In a rather bizarre court case, a driver has avoided prosecution after a complaint from someone who had spotted him naked in his lorry at a petrol station rest stop near the Adriatic coast in Italy’s Marche region.
Reports in Italian local newspaper Corriere Adriatico say the person who contacted the police had not had any contact with the driver before, during or after the incident, and did not know him in any way.
After the police received the complaint, they tracked down the driver’s truck using CCTV. The case reached the Pesaro Prosecutor’s Office and the lorry driver ended up in court.
The lorry driver’s lawyer explained to the court that the defendant was merely changing into dry clothes having just had a dip in the nearby Adriatic sea. There was no intent to provoke or offend anyone, neither was there anything sexual about his behaviour. Given that he was parked in a quiet petrol station stop, he did not expect anyone to see him either.
Despite this, the prosecutor demanded that the driver be convicted of an „obscene public act”. The judge at the Pesaro Court nonetheless found him not guilty.
Even if the man’s nudity was deemed an „obscene public act”, it only constitutes a crime in Italy when committed in the presence of children. The person who saw him naked was alone, while the rest stop was located far away from any schools or residential areas where children would likely be present.
Illustrative photo. Photo credit: Antonio Mette Wikimedia Commons (image cropped)