Italian businesswoman from the city of Viareggio, in Tuscanyfatally injured a forty-seven-year-old homeless Algerian immigrant with her car, who a few minutes earlier had stolen her purse outside a restaurant.

The woman spotted the homeless man on the street minutes after her purse was stolen and hit him three times with her car, leaving him half-dead on the sidewalk. She moved away, after first taking her bag again.

The tragic scene was filmed by closed security cameras, the images of which then allowed the 65-year-old perpetrator to be identified and arrested.

I didn’t want to kill him, but only to stop him and find my bag that contained my ID and house keys, because I live near where I was robbed” the woman said in her apology.

In Italy, this story has caused consternation and much public debate about how far self-justification initiatives can go.

The international media broadcast video from a closed-circuit camera which records the shocking event.