SYDNEY — A British rapper and YouTube personality on trial for allegedly raping a fan in a Perth hotel has been acquitted of three sexual assault charges.
But the jury found the rapper Yung Filly guilty of two assault offenses related to his September 2024 encounter with a 20-year-old woman after a show.
The YouTuber, whose real name is Andres Felipe Valencia Barrientos, had been accused of sexually assaulting the woman, then 20 years old, in his hotel room after he performed in Hillarys, a coastal suburb of Perth.
The 30-year-old had pleaded not guilty to 10 charges and faced an eight-day trial in the Western Australian district court, attended by dozens of his performer’s young fans.
He was acquitted on Friday of three of six counts of sexually penetrating the woman without consent. But he was found guilty for two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm.
The jury could not come to a decision on three other counts of rape.
The social media star cried when the verdict was read out, local media reported.
He will remain on bail until 21 August, when the court will decide his sentencing date.
Prosecutors will also decide on the next steps for the three hung jury verdicts – whether to press ahead or not on those rape charges.
Barrientos has been on bail since being charged and was allowed to fly home to the UK in September for four months, before returning to Western Australia ahead of his trial.
During the trial, Barrientos had told the court that he had “fancied” the woman when they met at the concert venue.
Barrientos, who was born in Colombia and brought up in the UK, had been in the VIP area while she leaned over the barrier from the general area.
He denied touching her inappropriately.
He said the “vibes were good” between him and the woman when they arrived at his hotel later.
His security guard took the woman’s phone away “standard practice” to protect their privacy, according to Barrientos.
The court heard that the pair had engaged in consensual sex in his hotel room before Barrientos turned violent and the young woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told him to stop.
The woman accused the social media star of biting, bruising and even trying to choke her. Photos of bruises and bite marks on her face and neck were shown in court.
During the trial’s closing arguments, prosecutor Danielle Clarke said Barrientos was an “entitled” man with a “moderate degree of fame” who had violated the fan “in the most intrusive way possible”.
His defense lawyer argued that the accuser’s evidence was full of “inconsistencies, embellishments and outright lies”.
Barrientos is known for his work with the YouTube collective Beta Squad, and has appeared in the celebrity version of Bake Off on Channel 4 and presented BBC Three shows.
In addition to his 1.8 million YouTube subscribers, he has three million followers on TikTok and and 2.4 million on Instagram.
Source: Saudi Gazette