A 17-year-old boy of Sri Lankan origin has been arrested over the murder of a girl his age in Rome, it was reported.

According to ANSA, the 17-year-old boy was arrested on Thursday morning on suspicion of murdering a girl his age whose body was found in a shopping trolley next to a garbage container in the northwestern Primavalle district of Rome on Wednesday evening.

The suspect, of Sri Lankan origin but born in the Italian capital, allegedly stabbed the girl to death in the apartment where he lives before disposing of her body in a trash bag in the trolley.

Investigators say the two were not going out and that the victim, who has been named as Michelle Maria Causo, from Rome, was not pregnant.

Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri said on Thursday he was “deeply shocked by the brutal murder”, describing it as “yet another unacceptable femicide”.

“Michelle’s friends and acquaintances say she was a cheerful girl who loved life and study, known to everyone in the neighbourhood,” Gualtieri wrote on social media.

“At this time of sorrow, I want to express my deepest condolences to her family, friends and all the people who loved her. Our whole city stands in solidarity with the Primavalle community in the face of this terrible and unjust death that has deprived a young woman of her future,” he continued.

“We strongly condemn gender violence in all its forms. We must all strengthen our commitment to fight it, prevent it and support the women who suffer it,” concluded the mayor. (ANSA)

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