A Ghanaian man has killed his Ethiopian employer in Italy after a dispute over an unpaid salary.

The suspect, 32-year-old Adams Suleimani, who confessed to killing 42-year-old Agitu Ideo Gudeta said he had struck her with a hammer and subsequently raped her as she lay dying, an Italian news agency reported.

Gudeta, was an Ethiopian immigrant who had fled Ethiopia in 2010 after angering local authorities by taking part in protests against government ‘land-grabbing.’

According to Daily Mail, activists including Gudeta had accused the authorities of setting aside large swathes of farmland for foreign investors. 

Upon arriving in Italy, she started her enterprise using common land in the northern mountainous parts of Italy and a handful of goats.

By 2018 when she became a well-known figure, renowned for making goat cheese and beauty products on her farm 'La Capra Felice - the Happy Goat' - which was built on previously abandoned land.

Her story was reported by numerous international media as an example of what migrants could achieve when given the chance. 

This came at a time when right-wing politicians in Italy had staged several successful campaigns against immigration to the country.