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Polites cleared in front bar brawl

Millionaire Greek Australian George Polites will not be prosecuted for assault said police, after they said the video footage of a wild bar brawl in Adelaide does not show that he did anything wrong

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Polites cleared in front bar brawl

CCTV footage of Mr Polites and the front bar brawl in January 2011.

22 May 2012

Millionaire Greek Australian George Polites will not be prosecuted for assault said police, after they said the video footage of a wild bar brawl in Adelaide does not show that he did anything wrong.

A police spokesman said the CCTV footage captured the night of the fight in question was "insufficient" to take the allegations further to court.

The decision, which comes after a month-long investigation led by Sturt CIB, has pleased Mr Polites who claims he was acting in defence of others.

"A detective from Sturt CIB called me and said he had watched the video from start to end," said the woman who reported Mr Polites and said she would consider going to the Police Complaints Authority with this.

"He said that, as far as he was concerned, he didn't think Polites did anything wrong."

The woman and three of her friends were charged with affray over an incident at the Sunset Bar, Glenelg, in January 2011.

They pleaded not guilty, saying the bar's CCTV footage showed Mr Polites' bodyguard grabbing one of them in a chokehold and the millionaire throwing the women to the ground.

Magistrate Peter Snopek dismissed the charges, and asked police prosecutors why Mr Polites had not been charged over the fight. Prosecutors replied they "did not know".

"After investigation, it has been determined there is insufficient evidence to proceed to prosecution," the police spokesperson said.

Mr Polites' solicitor, Dim Georgiadis, said his client had always denied any wrongdoing.

"He happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and, by offering assistance to friends who were caught up in this incident, inadvertently drew this attention to himself," he said.

"He was quite clearly acting in defence of himself, his friend and the owner of Sunset Bar during the incident."

The woman said she was angry and upset by the police decision.

"We got charged with assault and had to go to trial to prove our innocence while Polites didn't get questioned (at the time) or anything," she said.

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