Italian court grope verdict sparks mass social media fury

A 17-year-old student told police she was groped by 66-year-old school caretaker Antonio Avola as she walked up a staircase with a friend in April 2022.

She said she felt her trousers fall down and, as she was pulling them up, felt a hand touching her buttocks.

She said Mr Avola put his hands in her underwear and slightly lifted her in the air.

When she turned around, the 66-year-old dismissed the grope, telling the girl, “Love, you know I was joking.”

Afterwards, he reportedly pleaded with her to let the incident go without pressing charges, saying, “You will ruin my life, I didn’t do anything to you,” according to Reuters.

The caretaker was later charged with sexual assault, and prosecutors were seeking a three-year jail term if he was convicted.

Mr Avola confessed to groping the 17-year-old student but told the court it was a joke.

In a ruling this month, he was acquitted of all sexual assault charges, with a panel of judges ruling that the incident lasted between five and 10 seconds and therefore “does not constitute a crime”.

The judges concluded the gesture was so brief that it left doubts on the “voluntary nature of the violation of the girl’s sexual freedom”, according to The Guardian.

They also reportedly found the argument that the action was a joke “convincing”, and concluded it was “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”.

Outrage followed the verdict, with thousands of social media users posting videos of themselves touching intimate body parts for 10 seconds in a disturbing “palpata breve” (brief grope) or “10 secondi” (10 seconds) trend.

White Lotus actor Paolo Camilli was the first to post the confronting but demonstrative video, filming himself squeezing his chest as a timer counted for 10 seconds.

Chiara Ferragni, Italy’s most famous influencer, also reportedly posted another video to her 29.4 million Instagram followers.

Another Italian influencer Francesco Cicconetti – who goes by the username “mehths” online – posted a video, too, asking his followers to consider who decides how long 10 seconds lasts “while you’re being harassed”.

“Women’s bodies are not owned by men. It is owned by no one, only the women themselves,” he wrote.

“You have no right to touch them, not even for a second. Let alone for five, or for 10.”

In an impassioned caption, Mr Cicconetti wrote the court’s decision showed just how normalised sexual assault and harassment is in Italian society, “so much that a man in his 60s can grope an underage girl at school and walk away with impunity”.

In the days since the first protest videos, thousands more have appeared on social media from users around the world.

While some replicate the unsettling silent countdown videos, a social media comedy duo called “theconiugi” (thespouses) mocked the “absurd” ruling.

In the skit, the man grabs the woman on her buttocks. She gasps and threatens to report him, but he holds up a finger and looks at his watch, telling her to wait.

A timer ticks over on the screen and when it hits nine seconds the man removes his hand, saying, “It’s not a crime.”

“Ah yes, sorry, under 10 seconds is not a crime, you’re right,” the woman replies, relieved.

The duo’s video gained almost five million views on TikTok and another 2.5 on Instagram since in the days since it was posted, with most blasting the “sick sentence”.

“The law in Italy is ridiculous,” one wrote.

“How disgusting,” another wrote, adding “this is truly a disgrace.”

“Sad that this is reality.”

The teenage girl at the centre of the court case told the Corriere della Sera newspaper despite the judges believing that the man was joking, “it was no joke to me”.

“This is not the way an old man jokes with a 17-year-old girl. At least that’s what I think,” the girl, who has just turned 18, told the paper.

“That handful of seconds was more than enough for the caretaker to make me feel his hands on me.”

She said she feels doubly betrayed – by her school and by the justice system – and fears the ruling will deter girls and women from coming forward if they are subject to such attacks.

“I’m starting to think I was wrong to trust the institutions. This is not justice,” she said.

One of the student’s lawyers told the Fanpage news site the decision would “definitely” be appealed.