Ruling that a 17-year-old student was not sexually assaulted because the complained of groping was under ten seconds in length, a judge’s decision to dismiss charges against a 66-year-old janitor has been met with outrage in Italy.

The judge in Rome found that the groping was a clumsy attempt at a joke by school employee Antonia Avola and that the brevity of the act, which he concluded lasted “between five and 10 seconds”, ruled out “libidinous intent” towards the girl.