via BBC:
Does it count as sexual harassment if an assault lasts less than 10 seconds?
Many young people in Italy are expressing outrage on social media, after a judge cleared a school caretaker of groping a teenager, because it did not last long enough.
The case involves a 17-year-old student at a Rome high school.
She described walking up a staircase to class with a friend, when she felt her trousers fall down, a hand touching her buttocks and grabbing her underwear.
“Love, you know I was joking,” the man told her when she turned around.
After the incident, which happened in April 2022, the student reported the caretaker, 66-year-old Antonio Avola, to police.
He admitted to groping the student without consent, but said it was a joke.
A Rome public prosecutor asked for a three-and-a-half year prison sentence but this week the caretaker was acquitted of sexual assault charges. According to the judges, what happened “does not constitute a crime” because it lasted less than 10 seconds.