Judges acquit janitor who groped student because it was under 10 seconds
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A janitor at a high school in Italy who groped a female student was acquitted after judges found he did not touch her long enough for the incident to be considered sexual assault. The teenage student testified that she was walking up the stairs to class in April of last year when she felt someone put his hands inside her pants and underwear and lifted her up in the air. She turned to see the janitor behind her and then walked away without speaking, she said during the trial, according to the Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera.
She alleged that the man chased her and told her: “Love, you know I was joking.” The physical contact lasted between five and 10 seconds, she said.
The 66-year-old janitor, Antonio Avola, admitted to touching the student — though he denied putting his hands in her pants — and said it was a joke.
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The judges believed the student, who was not publicly identified, and noted in their verdict last week that her friend had witnessed the incident.
But they ruled that the janitor was not guilty of a crime because his actions were “clumsy but lacking in lust,” Corriere Della Sera reported — and lasted “a handful of seconds.”
Lawyers for the student did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday.
The decision has sparked a wave of outrage in Italy, where social media users are posting videos to protest the decision using the hashtag #10secondi, or 10 seconds.
Many are posting videos of them touching themselves, or being touched, in the chest or buttocks area for 10 seconds to demonstrate just how long and uncomfortable such an experience can be.
White Lotus star Paolo Camilli shared a clip on Monday that showed him touching his own chest, with an on-screen countdown. A caption reads: “Brief groping, if less than 10 seconds, is not considered a crime.”
One user shared a similar video, writing in the caption: “You don’t have the right to touch them [women], not even for a second. Let alone five, or 10.”
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Another Instagram clip showed a woman threatening to report a man as he touches her buttocks.
“Just a moment,” the man responds, before removing his hand a short while later. “Nine seconds — it’s not a crime!”
The woman who posted the video questioned why the intention or duration of the action was more important than the victim’s consent or reaction — lamenting why the state would not protect victims.
“Ten seconds are an eternity, anything but ‘short,’” one commenter responded to another video shared on TikTok.
The verdict echoes another Italian case in 2016, when a court in Sicily ruled that a man accused of groping female colleagues was not guilty of sexual harassment because he was motivated by “an immature and inappropriate sense of humor,” rather than sexual desire.
The following year, the country’s justice minister ordered an investigation after a judge acquitted a man of sexual assault because the woman did not scream or cry out for help during the alleged attack.
Stefano Pitrelli in Rome contributed to this report.
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Source: The Washington Post
