Young people in Italy are protesting on social media after judges cleared a caretaker of groping because ‘it lasted less than 10 seconds’. 

The shocking case involved a 17-year-old girl who goes to school in Rome, Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported. 

In April 2022, the girl was walking up the stairs with her friend when she felt her trousers fall down, a hand groping her buttocks, grabbing her underwear and lifting her up. 

When she turned around, she saw the school caretaker, 66-year-old Antonio Avola, standing behind her. ‘You know I was only joking, love’ the man said when he noticed the girl’s horrified reaction.

Mr Avola was reported to the police by the student. While he admitted to groping her without consent and to lifting her from the ground, he told the police he was only ‘joking’ and denied putting his hand under her trousers.

A Rome public prosecutor asked for a three-and-a-half year prison sentence, but the caretaker was this week acquitted of sexual assault charges. 

What happened ‘does not constitute a crime’, the judge ruled, because it lasted less than 10 seconds and was apparently an ‘awkward manoeuvre without lust’. 

This prompted outrage with Italy’s youth, who took to TikTok to protest the court’s decision, posting videos in which they stare at the camera in silence and touch their intimate parts for 10 seconds straight. 

The purpose of these videos is to show how long 10 seconds can feel when you’re on the receiving end of unwanted sexual attention.

The hashtag #palpatabreve (brief groping) has gone viral as a result, as well as #10secondi. 

Among the celebrities amplifying the message are Italian influencer Chiara Ferragni, White Lotus actor Paolo Camilli and TikToker Francesco Cicconetti.

Mr Cicconetti said on TikTok: ‘Who decides that 10 seconds is not a long time? Who times the seconds, while you’re being harassed?

‘Men don’t have the right to touch women’s bodies, not even for a second – let alone 5 or 10.’

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The student who reported the episode told local media: ‘That handful of seconds was more than enough for the caretaker to make me feel his hands on me.

‘I’m starting to think I was wrong to trust the institutions. This is not justice.’

She also expressed her concern the ruling may deter women and girls from coming forward after being assaulted, in a country where instances of harassment are widely underreported. 

‘They will feel that reporting abuse is just not worth it. But it is important, because silence protects the aggressors,’ she added. 

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