‘Pyro bully lie got me shunned’
Kid, 8, & mom bare blaze-blame pain
The Connecticut kid accused of setting his 6-year-old neighbor on fire broke down in tears as he recalled being shunned by close friends who feared he was a violent bully.
Stefano Giacobbe, 8, was accused nearly two months ago of deliberately torching Dominick Krankall — until a newly surfaced video showed them playing together before the youngster accidentally went up in flames.
Stefano — who was seen desperately trying to put out the flames in the April footage — burst into tears when pressed by a DailyMail.com videographer about the backlash he received.
Close friends “told me to get away from the house and don’t light me on fire,” he said, adding that he was “saddened” by the incident that left his young neighbor
with horrific second- and thirddegree burns.
As he cried, his mother, Laura Giacobbe, 45, denounced the false claims that her son threw a flaming ball at his neighbor.
“He lost friends that were very close to him. And he loved them like his own brother,” she said.
Giacobbe on Tuesday told The Post that she wanted the burned boy’s mom — her former neighbor Maria Rua — arrested for putting her son “through hell,” saying the bullying claims led to death threats.
“Her child got to go to Yankee Stadium while my child sat inside in fear because of all the statements made against him,” Giacobbe told The Post.
“I want her to get arrested because I don’t think it’s fair. It’s defamation of character,” Giacobbe continued. “She slandered my family. She put my son through hell. She put me in hell. I want her arrested for false statements.”
The video, released Friday, showed four children, including Dominick and Stefano, lighting fires and kicking a flaming soccer ball in the backyard together.
Nothing shows the other boys targeting Dominick, who caught fire after either kicking or stepping on a plastic cup filled with gasoline that was in flames.
Bridgeport police also confirmed there was no evidence of foul play.
Still, Rua stood by her “son’s story,” calling Giacobbe a “liar” and a “narcissist.”
“My son is not a liar,” Rua told The Post, suggesting the video had been edited. Rua told the Mail her son is home and “healing and in good spirits.”
She also confirmed she will use the nearly $600,000 raised on a controversial GoFundMe to buy a new home. “Dominick is so excited to have his own home. A backyard to play in and he wants to share a bedroom with his 3-year-old brother. He is literally counting down the days,” she said.
She said about $1,000 has been refunded to donors after the video appeared to contradict her initial story.
Still, she insisted, “This is Dominick’s money. He is the one who went through this.”
A representative for GoFundMe told The Post that the fundraiser is “within GoFundMe Terms of Service at this time,” and that donors could get refunds.
“Our hearts go out to Dominick as he continues to recover,” said Kelsi Gantt, a GoFundMe spokesperson.