‘Touched But Didn’t Press’ Assault Acquittal Appealed

Catania: Prosecutors in Catania have appealed the acquittal of a university lecturer and medical instructor who was found to have touched the breasts of eight female students but was cleared on the grounds that “his fingers didn’t exert pressure”. “This sentence is mistaken and illogical,” said the prosecutors.

According to Ansa News Agency, the 68-year-old medicine lecturer, Santo Torrisi, was cleared of sexual assault after judges ruled that in one case out of eight, he touched a female student but did not make sexual allusions, so the incident did not constitute assault. In another case, he did not use his fingers to grope the alleged victim.

The accusations against Torrisi, made by the eight students, pertained to incidents at a Catania hospital between 2010 and 2014. Torrisi was cleared last February, with the explanation of the acquittal being issued last month. The court stated that while he placed his palms on a student’s breasts, there was no particular pressure from his hands, making it unlikely that he intended to make sexual contact without making any sexual allusions.

The judges acknowledged evidence of predatory behavior, describing it as obsessive towards the students he chose as the object of his sexual desires. However, they emphasized the need to distinguish on a case-by-case basis whether the behaviors constituted the crime charged.

One complainant recounted that while in Torrisi’s room, “he threw himself on me.” Nonetheless, the judges noted that it was unclear what “to throw oneself on” meant and whether it involved the sexual sphere of the offended person. They further commented, “If there is no dissent, there is no violence.”

The defense argued that some wiretaps revealed an agreement between the injured parties on what to testify, suggesting potential collusion among the accusers.