Man accused of sexual assault released as it lasted “less than 10 seconds”

A Roma court on Saturday decided not to convict a 66-year-old man who admitted intentionally touching the buttocks of a 17-year-old girl, as the attack lasted “between 5 and 10 seconds”.

But according to the judges, “this handful of seconds” is too short and the act, in fact, “does not constitute a crime”. Many Internet users were indignant about it on social networks, local media report.

“The suddenness of the action, without insistent contact, and which can be considered ‘almost like a brief palpation’ does not make it possible to characterize the libidinous intention (…) generally required by criminal law”, in particular developed the judges.

“Clumsy act but without sexual desire”

On April 22, 2022, the girl was walking down a staircase at the Roberto Rossellini Film and Television School in Rome when she felt a hand go into her pants and touch her buttocks under her underwear, before raise it a few centimeters above the ground.

She then turns around and sees that it is a cleaner. Shocked, she remains silent and hastens to leave the premises. The man follows her and says, “honey, you know I was kidding”. A friend of the student witnesses the scene. The victim will eventually file a complaint.

More than a year later, in court, the man partially acknowledges the facts (he denies that his hand was in the victim’s pants) and regrets his “mistake” but still defends his desire to make “a joke “. It is on the basis of this explanation that this Roman criminal chamber, despite the three and a half years in prison required by the prosecutor, justified its choice not to condemn the man.