Watch: Claudia Chessa Speaks Out Against Boyfriend After She Fell From Balcony In Malta
Content warning: The following text contains details of domestic violence case.
Claudia Chessa, an 18-year-old Italian national, spoke out on Italian TV station Pomeriggio Cinque, claiming she jumped from a hotel balcony in Malta to escape her boyfriend, 27 year-old Alessio Lupo Rivera.
The incident occurred two weeks ago when she fell from the fourth floor of their hotel in Malta. Despite sustaining grievous injuries, an awning cushioned her fall and saved her life.
Chessa recounted from her hospital bed in Italy that the argument leading to her fall started at a nightclub, where Rivera was seen arguing with strangers. She later followed him to the bathroom and found him taking drugs. Disappointed, she confronted him, but he denied it. Back in their hotel room, the altercation turned violent.
She alleged that Rivera attempted to suffocate her with a cushion, bit her toes until they bled, and pulled out chunks of her hair. Feeling terrorised by his threats, she attempted to escape via the balcony. “He told me, ‘I’ll kill you, you won’t leave this room alive,’” she said. In desperation, she let go of the railing and fell.
“My daughter is not crazy, she didn’t throw herself off the balcony because of a simple argument: she was beaten and tried to run away to save herself,” Claudia Chessa’s father, Silvano Chessa, told Sardinian media.
Silvano went on to say that there is CCTV footage from outside the window and that Claudia was running away screaming and asking for help before she jumped out of the balcony to escape.
Her father told the media that her health is improving but she now has to undergo back surgery due to fractures she suffered on the fall. Thankfully, the fall was partially cushioned by an awning which might have saved her life, investigators determined.
After landing on the awning, she called for help, fearing Rivera would come after her. She claimed he later approached onlookers, acting as if nothing had happened and calling her his “crazy girlfriend” who had thrown herself off the balcony.
Rivera was arraigned before Magistrate Jean Paul Grech last week, pleading guilty to causing slight bodily harm, instilling fear of violence, and drug possession. He was fined €250 for drug possession and granted a conditional discharge for two years before leaving Malta. In a later interview, he denied pushing Chessa but admitted their relationship was “toxic.”
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