Calum Best has been cleared of sexual assaulting a British tourist at Wayne Lineker’s Ibiza beach club.
The 42-year-old reality TV star, the son of legendary footballer George Best, was facing up to three years in prison if found guilty. But he has been acquitted by three trial judges in Spain.
He had been told he could have waited up to three months for the verdict after a one-day trial at the Audiencia Provincial Court in the Majorcan capital Palma on January 9. The judges said the woman accusing Best of sexually assaulting her had given “contradictory versions” of the alleged events on the night of April 22 2022.
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They insisted Calum’s “right to innocence” must prevail as they they did not have the “firm conviction” Calum had committed the alleged assault crime after hearing and seeing the evidence against him.
(Image: Joan Llado / GTres / SplashNews.com)
They said: “The accuser admitted she had consumed alcoholic beverages before arriving at the club (around five cocktails and four or five other alcoholic drinks and a shot)…which is a factor that could influence the perception of events you report.”
The judges said the “contradictions” raised by Calum’s defence lawyer at trial in his female accuser’s statement to police and the courts immediately after his arrest and her evidence at his trial were not “relevant”.
They said their main issue was with the lack of “external corroboration” of the unnamed female’s version of what happened. They added: “The only other evidence brought by the prosecution in this respect has come from the venue’s CCTV cameras which were partially viewed during the trial.
(Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images for Troia (UK) Restaurants Ltd)
“This court has seen the footage in its totality and has not obtained from them information to support her testimony with the certainty required by law with regards to the right to presumption of innocence.”
They said the accuser and Calum were out of sight of the cameras for 19 seconds but said what they viewed after they appeared again on CCTV did not seem “compatible” with her claim she went to look for her friend to tell her she had been sexually assaulted.
(Image: mrcalumbest/Instagram)
The judges added: “There is no other information from external sources of evidence that supports the complainant’s testimony, and the court finds it relevant that her friend, who was with her in the initial moments of the first contact with the accused and is said to have accompanied her to see a security guard, did not appear at trial.
“The security guard has not been cited as a witness either. The friend was identified in the police report and the security guard would have been easily identifiable.
They concluded: “When evidence is available that could have been used to support a testimony and it is not used in court without justifying the impossibility of doing so, a situation of objective doubt is created. In this case, the prosecution’s evidence has not been sufficient to undermine the right to the presumption of innocence.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
