Stepsister acquittal upheld in Denise disappearance (3)

(ANSA) - Palermo, October 2 - A Palermo appeals court on Friday upheld the acquittal of the stepsister of Denise Pipitone in her disappearance in Sicily in 2004.
Jessica Pulizzi had been accused of kidnapping Denise, a four-year-old who went missing on September 1 that year.
The court also declared timed-out a charge of making false statements to prosecutors, filed against Pulizzi's boyfriend, Gaspare Ghaleb.
"There is no justice," said Denise's mother Piera Maggio. "But we'll keep on seeking it". A lawyer for Pulizzi said "the right decision" had been made. A lawyer for Denise's family said the ruling "makes us sad". Denise's disappearance, which remains a mystery, has led to various alleged sightings over the years. These included one on the Greek island of Kos, which raised hopes that were eventually shattered by a DNA test. The test showed that the Albanian gypsy held by police in connection with the supposed sighting was in fact the girl's mother, Greek police said. Earlier, the 32-year-old woman was remanded in custody after reportedly failing to explain why her daughter was the only one in the family who speaks Italian. An Italian tourist spotted the eight-year-old girl hawking trinkets with her mother in a Kos market and told police she looked like Denise, who would be the same age today. Denise's mother Maggio has been disappointed by other false sightings and a small-time mafioso's confession, quickly dismissed by police, that he killed Denise.