Reading the full judgement it does seem as if Bellusci was 100% innocent, his version was consistent, made sense and pre-dates him knowing what the allegation was (rather than him thinking up some tale afterwards) I hope this puts the whole thing to bed and removes any 'mud sticking' that may have attached to him with the 'kick it out campaign' or whichever group it was who said they were not happy and wanted to take it further. The video of Chelsea fans that is all over the net today shows there are still problems but on this occasion LUFC employee was innocent - I hope the full judgement gets the same amount of publicity as the original charge From YEPThe FA commission heard that Bellusci told Jerome “ti faccio un’occhio nero, pezzo di merda”, an Italian phrase which translates as “I will give you a black eye you piece of s**t.”Jerome’s version of Bellusci’s remarks differed, alleging the repeated use of the word ‘negro’, but the commission’s findings said the striker’s “understanding of Italian was much more shaky and incomplete than the sense conveyed by his initial reporting to the match officials.”It added: “Mr Jerome had learned some ‘choice’ Italian words during his time at Cardiff City from an Italian player whom he befriended.“Mr Bellusci has been consistent throughout in his evidence as to the words used by him and that he said the word ‘nero’ only once in a particular context. He maintained that case during his evidence before the commission.”The report concluded: “Mr Jerome’s evidence has been inconsistent in certain material respects which inevitably have an adverse affect on the reliability of his evidence as a whole.“Accordingly, where their recollections differ, the commission prefers the consistent evidence of Mr Bellusci to that of Mr Jerome, specifically in relation to the word that forms the basis of the alleged aggravated breach.“On the balance of probabilities we find that Mr Bellusci used the word ‘nero’ once, in the context that he claims, and that Mr Jerome misheard or misinterpreted what was said as ‘negro’. Once that misapprehension was planted in his mind, Mr Jerome’s reaction to it was entirely understandable.“We therefore dismiss the charge in its entirety.”According to the findings, Bellusci’s evidence was strengthened further by the fact that he told a member of United’s staff that he had threatened to give Jerome a black eye before he became aware of the precise nature of Jerome’s allegations.The report said: “Any suggestion that Mr Bellusci has used the word ‘nero’ in order to ‘manufacture’ a case to fit in with ‘negro’ is undermined by the timing of his reporting to a Leeds’ official what he claims to have said, which preceded him first becoming aware of the racially abusive word that he was alleged to have used.”
_______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email leedslist-unsubscr...@gn.apc.org John 'Grampa' Sykes Rest In Peace old lad 28th Oct 1938 - 12 Nov 2013 MARCHING ON TOGETHER
