Outrage in Italy after court rules groping under 10 seconds is not illegal

By Sharon Braithwaite | CNN

A court ruling that found a school janitor not guilty of groping a student because the act only lasted less than 10 seconds has sparked outrage in Italy.

In their decision, the judges of the fifth criminal section of the Court of Rome said they acquitted the accused, a 66-year-old man according to Italian state broadcaster RAI, of sexual assault because the whole thing lasted “about five to ten seconds.”

In her testimony, the then 17-year-old girl, according to RAI, said the act happened in April 2022 as she was climbing the staircase at school with a friend.

She testified that she pulled up her trousers and felt a hand tucked inside them, under her briefs, touching her buttocks, according to the judgment, issued July 6.

“Love, you know I was joking,” the janitor said, according to the teenager’s testimony mentioned in the judgment.

During the trial, the janitor admitted that he had touched the student but that he had done it “as a joke.”

The judges accepted the defense’s argument that the act was meant to be a “clumsy joke” without “libidinous intent” towards the girl.

The decision caused outrage among students and sparked a viral trend on social media.