Romanian woman stabs passenger in Rome's subway

A Romanian woman got 16 years of imprisonment for fatally stabbing a passenger in the eye in Rome's subway.

Photo: Romanian woman stabs passenger in Rome's subway

The victim, Vanessa Russo, was poked in the eye with the umbrella's tip in April and died two days later of her injury.

Doina Matei, 21, was convicted of slaying, which occurred after Russo and Matei apparently argued inside the Termini train station metro stop. Matei was identified with the help of camera.

"I expected more than 16 years (for the sentence), but that's enough," the victim's mother, Rita Russo, told reporters. "For me justice has been done."

The crime was one of several violent slayings in the capital blamed on immigrants that put pressure on the government to crack down on foreigners.

Premier Romano Prodi's government approved a decree earlier this fall allowing expulsion of European Union citizens who are deemed dangerous, after a Romanian man was arrested for the brutal slaying of an Italian naval officer's wife in Rome. Romania is one of the EU's newest members.