A street sweeper who used his likeness to Keanu Reeves to lure women on dates has been jailed for drugging, raping and filming the abuse of his three victims.
Ubaldo Manuali, 59, of Rome, Italy, was sentenced to nine years and 10 months in prison after being charged with aggravated sexual violence and unlawful dissemination of sexually explicit images.
Throughout the investigations, it was discovered that Manuali had managed to convince three women he met on social media to meet him in person before carrying out the horrific acts of abuse.
During the harrowing trial, they revealed that they had all met the cleaner online through one of his six different social media accounts, where he boasted about his resemblance to Hollywood actor Keanu Reeves.
After seducing them and establishing a level of trust, he would attack.
Ubaldo Manuali, 59, from Rome, encouraged women to date with his alleged resemblance to Hollywood actor Keanu Reeves
The sweeper was sentenced to nine years and 10 months in prison after being accused of aggravated sexual violence and illicit dissemination of sexually explicit images of three women
The women would be invited to meet Manuali, before they were drugged with sleeping pills without their knowledge.
Once unconscious, the victims were raped and the abuse was filmed before Manuali distributed the footage to his friends.
Investigators confiscated all of Manuali’s mobile phones and laptops and discovered that he kept not only all messages with the women, but also the images and footage captured those nights.
Prosecutor Michele Adragna stated: “This type of violence is more serious than physical violence, it is more subtle because it takes advantage of women’s psychophysical disability.
‘It’s as if it were a double violence. And Manuali is blinded by the sexual result, by his satisfaction.”
Investigations by the Viterbo air brigade and the Flaminio Nuovo police station began after the latest victim, Stefania Liozzi, from Capranica, submitted a report in January.
She had to visit the emergency room after the night with Manuali when she woke up confused and groggy.
Manuali would brag about his resemblance to Reeves, 59, in the photo.
Photos and videos of the abuse were found on Manuali’s phone while she appeared semi-conscious and from there they tracked the other two victims.
‘Every time we went out together he boasted to me that he had had a thousand women. “He was obsessed with her beauty, with showing off,” Lozzi told local media.
“But then he took photos of me all the time and kept saying, ‘Look, I’m a serious man, they’re the ones looking for me,'” he added.
The three victims, Capranica, Alatri and Mazzano Romano, will receive compensation of around £22,000 following their ordeal.
In the arrest warrant that gave rise to the immediate trial, the investigating judge spoke of a “marked criminal capacity”, driven by a “manic perversion to satisfy his sexual impulses, stunning the victims to avoid a possible refusal.”
They said the 59-year-old had “a complete inability to control himself” and was “capable of making his victims believe that he even helped them when they were not feeling well.”
When the verdict was announced, Manuali seemed unfazed by the result and stated that he would appeal, insisting: “I know I didn’t do anything.”
