Italian Horse Stable Owner Accused of Exploiting Moroccan Worker After Injury
After being injured by a horse at an equestrian centre in Italy, Mustapha Akazzou was pressured to return to work. Without papers, the Moroccan worker depended on his employer for his wages, housing and a promise to help regularise his status.
In late March 2025, an untrained horse crushed Mustapha Akazzou against a railing at the equestrian centre where he works in Cirò Marina, Calabria. Despite back pain, he finished his shift. On April 1, he was no longer able to work.
On Bladi.net : Undocumented, this Moroccan man worked up to 60 hours a week and slept behind the grocery store
“Mustapha, I can’t wait,” his boss, Vincenzo De Leo, wrote to him on WhatsApp, according to Il Quotidiano del Sud. He ordered him to return or be replaced, and threatened to kick him out of the garage and withhold his outstanding wages. On April 2, the employer’s brother banged violently on his door to demand that he return.
Despite his pain, Mustapha went back to work. He says he was afraid of losing his roof, his money and the promised help to obtain a residence permit.
€2.45 an hour and a cockroach-infested garage
Since December 2024, he had looked after 23 horses on his own, later increasing to around 30, and cleaned the stables. He worked 10 hours a day, six days a week, without a contract or protective equipment. Over 141 working days, he was paid 3,450 euros—just 2.45 euros an hour.
His accommodation was a 25-square-metre garage beneath his employer’s house, with mould, run-down sanitary facilities and cockroaches. He bought his own gas cylinders for heating. When he was hired, he had been promised 700 euros a month and help regularising his residency.
On Bladi.net : Nine Moroccans Paid €37,500 for Italian Work Permits That Were Supposed to Be Free
On May 27, 2025, the anti-trafficking association Comunità Progetto Sud alerted the Carabinieri. The next day, investigators found Mustapha in the stables, frightened and in pain. They took his statement and collected his messages.
In October 2026, Judge Elisa Marchetto ordered Vincenzo De Leo to be placed under house arrest over alleged exploitation. The centre’s facilities were seized as a precautionary measure. On October 21, an inspection found another worker, an Indian national, without a contract or training.
