Kirsty Mckenzie
A Scots DJ accused of raping a British holidaymaker in Ibiza had his trial temporarily scraped just 30 minutes after landing in the dock due to ‘translation problems’.
Alasdair Euan Randalls, 26, from Aberdeen, now faces a 10-day quarantine and costly Covid tests as he returns to Scotland after just one day on trial in Mallorca.
Officials confirmed that the rape case had been postponed until summer after the unnamed court translator wrongly translated the English word for flirting into fighting.
Randalls has been told to return to Mallorca in July to defend himself against the charges.
The 26-year-old, who deejayed at party hotel Ibiza Rocks before being arrested and held on remand in Spanish prison for more than two months, denies his part in the alleged sex attack at the resort.
Randalls’ defence lawyer Cristina Saaman, said her client is fighting to prove his innocence and insisted sex with his alleged victim was consensual according to the Daily Record.
She said: “It quickly became apparent that the translator had omitted to mention two or three things that were important for the defence in the evidence my client was giving. The state prosecutor also had to pick her up on a couple of things.
“One of the things that caught my attention was that my client used the word flirting and it was translated to the court with the Spanish word for fighting.
“Fortunately both I and the state prosecutor speak English because if it had been any other language I probably wouldn’t have picked up on it and my client’s future could have been seriously compromised.”
She added: “He’s spent a fortune in flights and Covid tests and has to quarantine when he gets back home.
“His hope had been to try to start putting this behind him as he fully intended to defend himself against the rape charge.
Randalls is facing a long prison sentence if convicted, with state prosecutors demanding a six-year sentence if he is found guilty of rape.
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