Italy: Widow Denied Insurance Payout After Husband Killed by Lovers

The Court of Siena has declared null and void the €310,000 life insurance policy of Paolo Vaj, who was murdered in 2019 by two women he lived with. The court also denied the claim made by his vvife, Roberta Bencini, imposing legal costs of approximately €9,000 on her.

Paolo Vaj, a 56-year-old from Milan, left the home he shared with his vvife, Roberta Bencini, in 2017 to live in Veneto with two women. Two years later, on the night of July 18–19, 2019, he was found dead in Vittorio Veneto. Italian justice reconstructed the events: he first suffered blows with a curtain rod in the bedroom, causing multiple injuries, and then died in another room of the house. According to judicial reconstructions, the cause of death was thoracic crushing when the two women straddled him. One of them had previously placed a pillow over his face intending to suffocate him.

## Who were the convicted women and what sentences are they serving?

The two women living with the victim were Patrizia Armellin, aged 52 at the time, and Angelica Cormaci, aged 24. Last year, they received final convictions for 24 and 16 years in prison, respectively. Armellin was the beneficiary of one of the insurance policies; according to the judicial reconstruction, Cormaci initially tried to dissuade her but was eventually convinced.

The motive established by the judges was the money from the policies. In one of them, worth approximately €310,000, Vaj had designated Armellin as the sole beneficiary. On the night of the crime, according to that reconstruction, the man had decided to change the beneficiaries of the policies, prompting Armellin to act. The victim had consumed so much alcohol that his blood alcohol level was four times the normal limit.

## Why did the Siena court void the policy?

Italian legislation prevents anyone who causes the death of the insured person from collecting the compensation. As the direct perpetrator of the homicide, Armellin could not have collected the €310,000 under any circumstances. Up to this point, the matter seemed closed.

The problem arose when Roberta Bencini, the victim’s sole heir, claimed that amount from the insurance company. The Court of Siena, which has jurisdiction because Bencini has lived in Poggibonsi for some time, rejected her claims and ordered her to pay legal costs of approximately €9,000. For the judges, the policy is void and no one can collect it because the beneficiary killed the insured. The money remains, for now, in the hands of the insurer.

Bencini’s lawyers, Nicodemo Gentile and Daica Rometta, announced they will appeal. They argue that the principle that no one can benefit from their own illicit act applies only to the perpetrator of an intentional crime, cannot become a definitive enrichment for the insurance company, and leaves it with the entirety of the premium paid by the murdered policyholder. Bencini, who works in accounting, expressed surprise at the ruling: she respects the verdicts but finds it absurd that a lifetime of savings ends up with the insurer rather than the heirs. She even suggested that, if necessary, the funds should be allocated to charitable causes. It remains to be seen what happens in the second instance.

## The widow’s book and the still-blocked money

Bencini has written a book about this tragedy, *La versione di Paolo* (Paolo’s Version), published by Edizioni Helicon in Arezzo. In it, she addresses her husband’s figure and the events, a case that has gone through incivil courts and is now in civil proceedings.

The policy in question was issued by Unipol, and the capital had been fully paid out. The insurance company retains the amount while the litigation is resolved. The decision in Siena does not close the matter: there is an appeal pending and the possibility that a higher court may review whether the nullity of the policy should leave the money definitively with the insurer or seek another destination.