One year and 8 months in prison, the charge is aggravated sexual assault. At the time of the events he was 50 years old, while the victim was only 19

He waited until there was no one on the bus and, while the vehicle was stopped at the terminus, he invited a girl to get on board. Then, he tried to take advantage of her, locking her in the driver’s cage, lowering the mask he was wearing on her and kissing her on the cheek, even touching her private parts. For this reason, an Atac driver was sentenced yesterday to one year and 8 months in prison at the request of the public prosecutor Carlo Villani. The charge is aggravated sexual assault. At the time of the events he was 50 years old, while the victim was only 19.

The facts date back to January 22, 2021. The man was at the end of the line waiting for the time to get behind the wheel when he saw the victim. At that point he opened the doors of the bus and invited her to get on board, suggesting that she wait for departure away from the cold. It was evening and dark outside, there were no other passengers around. Once on the bus, according to the magistrate’s reconstruction, he first lured the girl into the driver’s cubicle, with the excuse of wanting to tell her something. Then he started making unreciprocated advances, calling her “little” and defining her as “beautiful and nice”, as stated in the indictment, formulated by prosecutor Antonio Verdi. While he was talking to her he also began, according to her accusation, to caress her arms and shoulders. Then he would have closed the door of the cabin, preventing the victim from reaching the passenger seats.

That’s not all: the magistrate underlines that “with a sudden movement” he would have lowered her mask, grabbed the back of her neck and then forced her “to suffer a kiss on the right cheek”. At times morbid attention that the young woman reported as not having been reciprocated and even rejected. She also said that she tried in every way to withdraw, underlining that the man would have prevented her from leaving, despite her protests. When she managed to get out of the driver’s compartment and reach the doors, she was again prevented from leaving.

STOP
The victim told investigators that he attempted to get off the bus once he reached his destination stop. And at that point the accused, according to the prosecution, returned to the attack again, harassing and scaring her. The young woman reported that she had headed decisively towards the exit, but that the driver would have closed the doors of the car quickly, “preventing her from getting out”, the prosecutor further notes in the indictment. The man then headed towards her, continuing to make compliments and advances undaunted. He allegedly continued to tell her that she was “beautiful and nice” and that she shouldn’t reject him. Then, her scariest moment: “After lowering her mask again” – we read in the prosecution documents – he immobilized her, blocking her hands. At that point he kissed her “slowly and long on the right cheek”. An attitude that left the victim practically petrified, convincing her to file a complaint in the following days. The nineteen-year-old’s version was deemed credible first by the public prosecutor and then also by the judge, who sentenced the accused, accepting the prosecutor’s request. The Atac driver is also charged with the aggravating circumstance of having committed the crime “taking advantage of circumstances of time and place such as to put the victim in a state of impaired defence”: the evening time, and therefore the darkness, and the absence of passengers.