Couchsurfing predator Dino Maglio jailed for rape of Australian teenager

AN Italian policeman who lured women to his home through his Couchsurfing.com profile has been convicted of raping an Australian teenager.

Couchsurfing predator jailed for rape

A COURT in Italy has convicted a policeman of raping an Australian teenager and other young women he lured to his home through a couch-surfing website.

Boris Dubini, lawyer for the Australian teen who was assaulted, said on Tuesday that Dino Maglio was sentenced in a Padua court to six-and-a-half years in prison.

Dino Maglio posed as ‘Leonardo’ on the site he used to lure women.

The teen says she was abused while she stayed at Maglio’s house.

The 36-year-old was charged with the rape of the 16-year-old last year, and since then 14 other women from seven countries have come forward with similar claims.

The convicted rapist went by the name “Leonardo” on his Couchsurfing profile, where he posed as an amiable host for travelling women wishing to stay in his flat while holidaying in the idyllic northern Italian town of Padua.

‘Leonardo’s’ couchsurfing.com profile. Pic: Investigative Reporting Project Italy/Correctiv.org

He is believed to have hosted hundreds of women over a number of years, acting as a tour guide to his guests for one or two days, showing them around the town and sometimes taking them to dinner or a nightclub.

After building trust and continuing to play the perfect host, the women claimed he would offer them a drink of homemade wine which would allegedly be laced with a rape drug.

Women interviewed by Investigative Research Project Italy said their host would become “overbearing” and “inexplicably insistent” when offering the “special wine”, but never felt in danger as they were usually travelling with others, and he was a policeman after all.

The accused rapist would show women around the historic town of Padua, Italy.

Maglio was arrested after the family of the Australian girl filed charges in Venice with police in March 2014.

Her mother reported the crime after finding the girl in bed with their host, groggy after a night where she stayed up chatting and drinking with Maglio.

After he was arrested, Maglio admitted to having spiked the girl’s drink and having intercourse with her knowing she was a minor, but claimed the sex had been consensual.

During the fast-track trial, Dubini argued that Maglio’s claim that the sex was consensual was nonsense given the tranquilliser he gave her turned her into a “rag doll” who couldn’t resist.

Maglio has been jailed for more than six years. Pic: Investigative Reporting Project Italy

The case has thrown into the spotlight questions of safety around social media websites that put strangers in touch while travelling.

Couchsurfing.com says its aim is to “Envision a world made better by travel and travel made richer by connection. Couchsurfers share their lives with the people they encounter, fostering cultural exchange and mutual respect.”

The organisation said in a statement that it applauded the victim and others who had come forward.

It said safety was a top priority for its business.