Calum McSwiggan pleads guilty to vandalism following ‘homophobic attack’ in LA
By Will Stroude
Calum McSwiggan has been sentenced to three years supervised probation and 52 anger management sessions in the US after pleading guilty to a charge of vandalism following an incident in which he had claimed to be the victim of a hate crime, the BBC reports.
The 26-year-old YouTube star vandalised a car owned by a man he had a fight with in West Hollywood on June 27.
Shortly after, McSwiggan posted a photo from a hospital bed showing various injuries reportedly sustained in the attack, however police later claimed that those injuries had been self-inflicted after his initial arres, and charged him with filing a false police report.
The charge of filing a false police report was dropped as part of a plea deal with prosecutors.
McSwiggan has been ordered to pay $7000 (£5,580) in compensation. He took to Twitter after the hearing to admit damaging the victim’s car, and to maintain that the police report he originally filed regarding a homophobic attack was genuine.
After five months of investigation this charge has finally been dropped. I never lied and I'm grateful that the world can now see that.
— Calum McSwiggan (@CalumMcSwiggan) November 8, 2016
Now I'm headed home to the UK to see my friends and get on with my life. I'm so grateful to all of you for your continued support 👍🏼 x
— Calum McSwiggan (@CalumMcSwiggan) November 8, 2016
“Five months ago I was accused of the crime of falsifying a police report after I was assaulted outside a nightclub – crime I didn’t commit,” he wrote.
“After five months of investigation this charge has finally been dropped. I never lied and I’m grateful that the world can now see that.
“After the assault I made the mistake of damaging the culprit’s car. I regret this & have accepted the consequences and paid for the damages.
He added: “Now I’m headed home to the UK to get on with my life. I’m so grateful to all of you for your continued support.”
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