Ex-Amir Khan boxing manager GUILTY of sex assault in Bolton, jury rules

Asif Vali, 56, denied a string of offences he was accused of committing against the woman in Bolton back in 2013.

Concluding a three-day long trial at Bolton Crown Court, prosecutor Huw Edwards asked the jury to consider why the victim would have lied about this.

He said: “There’s no reason for her to tell a lie because this isn’t a lie.”

He added: “She’s been cross examined, she’s been called a liar, she’s been called a number of things.

The trial opened at Bolton Crown Court (Image: Anthony Moss)

“It’s not anyone’s idea of a good time.”

Vali was accused of sexually assaulting the woman more than a decade ago when his “main job” was managing boxing champion and Olympic silver medallist Amir Khan.

Mr Edwards said that since the incident in 2013 the woman had kept her experiences “to herself for years and years and years and struggled with them”.

During the trial opening, the prosecution alleged Vali had bought underwear for the woman and had performed sexual acts on himself in front of her, which he denied.

But Bob Elias, defending, reminded the jury of the importance of their role in deciding who was telling the truth.

His closing speech took in the assassination of President John F Kennedy, who’s monument in England was established at Runnymede on the Thames.

Mr Elias said this was the site where the Magna Carta was signed in 1215, which led to the establishment of the right to trial by jury, quoting The Reeds of Runnymede by Rudyard Kipling.

He said: “Jury trial is at the very heart of our society and civilisation.”

Mr Elias asked the jury to remember another American President, Bill Clinton, and his well-publicised affair with Monica Lewinski.

He reminded them that Ms Lewinski had kept DNA samples proving Clinton’s liaison with her and asked the jury to consider why Vali’s victim had not done the same.

Mr Elias said that the case was simply “one person’s word against another” and reminded the jury of Vali’s standing with an “important job managing a successful boxer in the town”.

Summing up, the Honorary Recorder for Bolton Judge Nicholas Clarke KC said that only one of either Vali or the woman’s accounts could be true.

He said: “To be blunt, one of them is lying through their teeth about what happened.”

Judge Clarke reminded the court of the differing versions of events Vali and the woman had given about the February 2013 incident.

The woman had said Vali had sexually assaulted her and she was only able to get away after pulling a cup of coffee onto him.

Vali said that no such assault had taken place and that he had thrown the coffee at the wall after an argument that ensued when the woman asked for a loan.

The trial had previously heard evidence from officer in the case DC Kirsty Kaye including statements from the woman’s partner and about Vali’s responses in his police interview.

Judge Clarke said that when interviewed by DC Kaye in 2019 Vali had repeatedly said the alleged incidents did not happen.

He reminded the court of the incident with the coffee cup and their differing accounts of what had happened.

Judge Clarke said: “Ultimately one of them is lying.”

Vali, of Hill Cot Road, Astley Bridge, pleaded not guilty to two counts of exposure, two counts of sexual assault and a single count of assault by penetration.

Later that same day the jury unanimously found him guilty of all charges.

Vali was remanded into custody ahead of a sentencing hearing on Thursday February 26 next year.

Source – INDIA TV