Elena Petrizzi, aged 22 months, was declared dead this weekend following a three day fight for life, after being left in her father's car for five hours as temperatures soared above 30 degrees celsius. Her university lecturer father is now facing manslaughter charges.
45 year old Lucio Petrizzi, a lecturer in Veterinary Sciences at the University of Teramo, told police he thought he had already dropped off his daughter at nursery, saying: "I'd give my life to save her."
"I just don't know what happened. I was convinced I had dropped her off. I locked the car and went to work – it's as if someone pulled the plug out of my brain."
Elena's mother Chiara Sciarrini, 38, defended her husband saying: "He is not to blame. He is always so busy rushing here there and everywhere.
"He was always busy himself with me and Elena. He is not guilty of anything. He is an exemplary father."
Doctors said Elena's heart had been donated to a child in Bergamo, her liver to one in Turin while her kidneys had gone to two patients in Rome.
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