A student who admitted murdering his ex-girlfriend in a brutal case that sparked outrage and soul searching in Italy will be sentenced Tuesday.

Prosecutors have asked for life in prison for Filippo Turetta, 22, over the killing of Giulia Cecchettin in November last year, just days before she was due to graduate from the University of Padua.

Cecchettin, also 22, was stabbed at least 75 times in a shocking murder that prompted protests over violence against women across Italy.

Turetta and Cecchettin’s father were present at the Venice court, where a verdict is expected after 3:00 pm (1400 GMT).

Turetta’s lawyer Giovanni Caruso has called the request for life imprisonment excessive, saying his client was “not Pablo Escobar”, the notorious Colombian drug baron.

When the trial opened in September, he warned against a “media trial” and last week insisted there were no “aggravating circumstances” such as cruelty or premeditation.

But prosecutor Andrea Petroni said Turetta acted with “particular brutality”, attacking Cecchettin before fleeing with her in his car.

Her body was found a week after she went missing in a gully near Lake Barcis north of Venice.

Turetta was arrested a day later near Leipzig in Germany after his car ran out of petrol.