An Italian judge’s decision to exonerate a school caretaker of s*xually abusing a student on the grounds that it “lasted less than ten seconds” caused a stir in Italy.
The incident happened when the teenager and a friend were climbing a stairway at a school in Rome.
Antonio Avola, 66, reached his hand down the 17-year-old girl’s pants before grabbing her buttocks and pulling on her underpants.
Avola told her: “Love, you know I was joking.” In April 2022, the child called the police and reported the caretaker. He admitted touching the girl without getting her permission, but he said it was just a “joke”.
Avola was on trial for s*xual assault, with prosecutors seeking a three-year prison sentence if convicted. The judge, on the other hand, concluded that the grope lasted “between five and ten seconds” and was thus too brief to be considered a crime.
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Prosecutors sought a three-year prison sentence for Avola if found guilty of the s*xual assault accusations against him at the time of his trial. The groping, according to the judge, lasted “between five and 10 seconds” and was therefore too brief to qualify as a crime.
The judge added: “Furthermore, it seems likely that the brushing of the buttocks was caused by an awkward manoeuvre of the defendant which, due to the dynamics of the action, was carried out while the subject was in motion.”
Following the court decision, Italians took to social media to show their displeasure, posting videos of themselves caressing sensitive body parts with the hashtags “palpate breve” (short grope) and “10 secondi” (10 seconds).
Actor Paolo Camilli from the film White Lotus introduced the trend, which was then adopted by Chiara Ferragni, one of Italy’s most well-known influencers.
Another influencer, Francesco Cicconetti, wrote on TikTok: “Who decides that 10 seconds is not a long time? Who times the seconds while you’re being harassed?”
Similar judgments made by Italian judges have drawn criticism in the past. A Italian judge in Ancona exonerated two men of rape in 2017 in part because the victim appeared too manly to be an object of seduction, according to the judge.