Judgment of the Court of Appeal of Perugia: The victim of sexual violence is credible even after years

In a country like Italy, convicted in the past for sexism in sentencesa sentence that instead establishes a right for women makes news: report a sexual assault when they feel ready to do so. “The reliability of the person offended by the crime of sexual violence is not compromised by the passage of so many years from the moment in which the illicit conduct had begun to the moment the facts were reported”.

The sentence is reported in the Criminal News of the Court of Appeal. “In the present case, the Court of Appeal upheld the conviction of the defendant for the crime of sexual violence, committed to the detriment of his partner’s niece, who had reported the facts only six years after the start of the violence. The Court held that the expiry of this term was not indicative of the non-existence of the contested conduct, allegedly the result of the offended person’s imagination, but rather of the girl’s will not to upset the family balance; a desire that was then overcome by the fear that the accused could commit the same conduct towards the victim’s younger sister and which had led her to disclose the facts”.

The Messenger, in the Umbrian edition, tells the details of the story. A man had raped her partner’s niece and the young woman did not report her until the man attempted to do the same to her younger sister. The facts date back to six years before the first instance sentence that convicted the man of sexual assault. Time has not changed the reliability of the complaint (the girl had not spoken so as not to upset the family balance) and the responsibility of the man. The second instance judges upheld the sentence.

The Code red currently provides that adult victims have 12 months to report abuse. In the previous legislation the time was six months. The time to report sexual assault varies in different countries. If the victim is a minor, there are no time limits and you can proceed ex officio.