Elon Musk appeared in court yesterday, 3rd December 2019, and testified before the jury. Tesla’s owner had been dragged to the California courthouse by Vernon Unsworth.
You can read the full backstory of the case as we already reported. A brief description of the case is that the British diver sued the billionaire for defamation of character.
The case was linked to Musk’s retaliatory statement after he perceived that he had also being insulted.
But the first hearing of the case went without much trouble. Lawyers only questioned the celebrity scientist to establish the case. Reporters who had access to the courtroom describe the room as full. And Mr. Vernon did not testify.
Elon Musk’s lawyer, Alex Spiro described the incidence as an exchange between two men. When his client talked, he also buttressed the point. He pointed out that Vernon had called his contribution to the rescue effort “a PR stunt”. Also, the Tham Luang hero had said the billionaire should stick his miniature submarine “where it hurts”.
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Feeling insulted, he said he had come up with a comeback of his own. He had called Unsworth a “Pedo Guy”. Which his lawyer explained was a common insult from his South African origins. It was not an accusation of a crime, the defense pointed.
But the prosecution was not having that. Elon had done it in several tweets, calling Vernon Unsworth a child r*pist when talking to a journalist, they said. The accusation was “false and vile”. Also, the fact that the scientist had hired a fake private investigator to dig into the diver’s past was brought up. It looks like he had tried to discourage the case from getting to court by subtle threat.
Lin Wood who seems to be leading the prosecution tried to prove that Elon Musk meant the accusation. The judge also stated that the prosecution didn’t have to prove that Unsworth is a public figure. Today, Wednesday 4th December 2019, the case returns to court. We follow it up and bring you the details.
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