Belling insists verdict finding he killed his wife ‘will be challenged’
DANIEL Belling has vowed to fight his conviction for killing his wife – a day after an Italian court hit him with a 26-year jail term.
“It will be challenged,” German-born Irish resident Belling told us last night.
His lawyer insisted there was simply not enough evidence to sustain the conviction against him.
Italian lawyer Luigi Conti told the Irish Mirror the verdict by the court of Assizes in Rome was the lowest rung of the country’s criminal legal system – and the case still had a long way to go. He said there were two more courts that would hear the case – and he told us he was confident they would acquit Mr Belling.
The 52-year-old, who steadfastly denies murdering his Chinese wife and mum of two young kids Xing-li, 38, on a cruise ship off the coast of Italy seven years ago, spoke exclusively to the Irish Mirror after Thursday’s verdict.
He added: “It will be challenged. The next round will take several more months, my lawyer said.”
And when we pressed him if he wished to make any other comment, Mr Belling replied: “Sorry, no, I don’t want to talk about it.” Mr Conti has now told the
Mr Belling
Irish Mirror that he believes the higher courts in Italy will reverse Thursday’s conviction.
He said the process is likely to take several years.
And when we asked him why he was so confident, he said he believed there was just not enough evidence to convict Mr Belling – who is a free man and is living in Ireland – of the crime.
Mr Belling is accused of voluntary homicide as well as the destruction of a body in relation to the disappearance of his wife
off Civitavecchia in 2017.
CRUISE SHIP