Pescara Coach Serse Cosmi has been giving evidence in a trial of a gang who held him and his family hostage.
The former Perugia and Udinese” data-scaytid=”8″>Udinese tactician was held for around an hour in his Umbria villa on January 19 2011.
Pescara Coach Serse Cosmi has been giving evidence in a trial of a gang who held him and his family hostage.
The former Perugia and Udinese tactician was held for around an hour in his Umbria villa on January 19 2011.
“When they threw me to the ground, the leader of the gang intervened and said ‘He is the Coach.’ I felt ill and when I told them that they offered me a glass of water,” explained Cosmi in court today.
“I reassured them that I’d have given anything they wanted as long as they didn’t hurt my wife and daughter.
“There were five bandits with their faces covered. They stayed in the house for 55 minutes, stealing money, jewels and watches.
“They slapped me around and hit me on the back of the head with the handle of the gun, but not in a violent way. It was above all an attempt to intimidate and create a climate of terror.
“They forced us to get under the sheets of a bed while they threatened us at gunpoint and with a spanner, while the others searched the villa.
“They spoke very clear Italian, but with an Eastern European accent. One of them saw a photograph of me on the wall from when I still had hair and asked why I didn’t have a transplant.”