A rapist escaped punishment after a judge ruled that the victim was the one who “invited him to have sex after leaving the toilet she used, open.”
The trial in the man’s case took place in the Italian city of Turin last Friday. The woman was allegedly “very drunk” after drinking a large amount of alcohol in one of the pubs in the city in May of 2019, when she and the suspect went to the bathroom together.
The victim claimed that the man forcibly removed her clothes during the attack despite resisting, and in proof brought with her the pants she was wearing that night to show the broken zipper. Unfortunately for the victim, the judge argued that the evidence was “old and worn” and that the suspect had nothing to do with breaking the zipper.
The judge’s decision that overturned the conviction handed down about two years ago sparked a storm on the net and especially in Italy with a wide range of politicians condemning the courts’ decisions on sexual assault and gender-based violence. Legislator Lotora Roto, a member of parliament from the populist right-wing party, called the government “creepy”.
She told the Italian news agency: “The young woman, who clearly expressed her disapproval of having sex, allegedly ‘made a man dare to rape’ her by leaving the bathroom door open in the process of being drunk. The case is unusual and all signs point to rape.” A member of the Five Star Movement party, Maria Adra Safdoni, said the ruling “takes us back light years, to the fight against gender verification,” and called for “restraint” of judges with similar rulings.
Others have called on the Supreme Court to overturn the ruling. The decision is the latest in a series of court rulings in Turin that have been branded as mergers by women’s rights advocates. A similar case from 2019, included two men who were raped after the judges claimed the victim was “ugly”, claiming she was “men and unattractive”.
A 200-strong demonstration erupted in court in Ancona on Monday as protesters protested “over the shame”.