Fury in Italy as judge clears man of groping an air hostess because the 20 seconds it took her to react to the ‘sexual assault’ was ‘too long’

A judge has sparked outrage in Italy after acquitting a man of groping a flight attendant because the 20 seconds it took her to respond to the alleged attack were “too long.”

Raffaele Meola, a union official at the time, was accused of sexually assaulting the woman in March 2018.

The airline worker reportedly went to Mr Meola’s office in Malpensa, northern Italy, to seek help with an employment dispute.

Milan’s Court of Appeal acquitted Mr Meola of the alleged sexual assault after an earlier trial in 2022 also acquitted him on similar grounds – with the verdict subsequently suggesting the woman’s response to the alleged assault was not quick enough.

Women’s rights activists and the woman’s legal team have dismissed the outcome as a way to turn back the clock decades and have vowed to fight it.

Her lawyer said following the verdict: ‘We will appeal to the Supreme Court, because this verdict takes us back thirty years.

They added that this was contrary to Supreme Court precedent which “has declared for over a decade that a sexual act, performed in a sudden manner without verifying the woman’s consent, is a crime of sexual violence and should be judged as such.’

The jury’s presiding judge, Nicoletta Guerrero, said “the victim was believed” but there was insufficient evidence to support the charges.

During the alleged assault, the previous trial reportedly heard, Mr Meola stood behind the woman as he laid his hands on her.

He allegedly touched, kissed and massaged her while the woman “continued to leaf through and read the documents without expressing any dissent” for about 30 seconds.

The court heard that the woman’s ‘reaction time’ allegedly led to Meola ‘misunderstanding the will of his colleague’. il Fatto Quotidiano reported at the time.

Lawyer Teresa Manente responded to the 2022 verdict, saying it was “steeped in sexist bias, placing the responsibility for the crime back on the woman.”

Speaking to Corriere Della Sera, the alleged victim responded to the previous verdict: ‘Doesn’t a woman have the right to remain petrified and paralyzed when she is harassed?’

Elisa Ercoli, president of women’s rights group Differenza donna, said the latest verdict proves that Italy’s sexual violence laws “cause serious and ongoing institutional violence” and called for their “urgent” review.