Harry Maguire should apologise if he doesn’t want Tuesday’s conviction hovering over him for years to come, the prosecution lawyer handling the case has told the Guardian.
Proffering what could be a beam of hope for the embattled Manchester United captain, Ioannis Paradissis said an apology could pave the way for “a different sentiment” to prevail when Maguire attempts to overturn his 21-month sentence before a higher court.
Maguire moved on Wednesday to appeal against a Greek court ruling which found him guilty, on all counts, for his involvement in a brawl on the island of Mykonos last week. Legal sources confirmed his defence team had lodged the appeal citing as “wrong and misleading” the accusations levelled against Maguire and his two co-defendants. Once the appeal process is launched under Greek law a conviction remains pending.
“The appeal has been accepted and will lead to a full retrial in a more senior court,” Manchester United said. “This means that Harry has no criminal record and is once again presumed innocent until proven guilty. Accordingly, he is not subject to any international travel restrictions.”
Speaking from Syros, the Cycladic island where the dramatic legal proceedings took place, Paradissis, who represented three of the policemen who appeared in court as key witnesses, said his clients and “many Greeks” had been appalled by the 27-year-old defender’s inability to apologise and evident lack of “empathy and sympathy towards people who were simply doing their job”.
“If you are a role model you should know how to assume responsibility and explain your position,” he said. “We have heard nothing from him except that he is a victim and that he believes he is innocent. Where is the empathy and sympathy towards people who were simply doing their job but ended up being violently attacked? Not saying anything is neither sportsmanlike, nor in the spirit of fair play.”
The lawyer said he believed that while the wheels of Greek justice moved slowly, the appeal could be heard before the higher tribunal – and a new set of judges – “within one to two years”.
Maguire’s “lawful life” before the episode had acted as a strong “mitigating” factor in the 21-month sentence handed down by the three-member misdemeanours court on Tuesday . “It would have been much, much longer but they accepted his good behaviour [prior to the incident],” he added.
Under Greek law, an appeal would mean the case starting afresh, opening up the possibility of some charges being dropped if Maguire and his co-defendants were to apologise.
“An appeal is the equivalent of a retrial in a higher court before new judges who could change the [lower court’s] decision,” the lawyer said. “My clients, the policemen, would be ready to accept an apology. That is what they have wanted all along. One of them was thrown to the ground and in great pain afterwards,” he said adding that when called to break up the brawl they had “no idea” who Maguire was.
“They didn’t recognise him. For them they were simply British tourists who in this case went on to to use their status and wealth to try and get out of the situation.”
Part of Maguire’s defence centred on the fact that his sister Daisy had been injected with an unknown substance before the incident. Maguire’s lawyer, Alexis Anagnostakis, said that his clients – Harry Maguire, the player’s older brother Joe and Christopher Sharman– had acted in self-defence and did not realise that the non-uniformed men were police officers.
Maguire’s younger brother Laurence, also a footballer, tweeted on Wednesday to say his sibling would not be apologising. “Absolute no chance Harry will be apologising,” said the Chesterfield player. In apparent response to a claim by Paradissis that Maguire’s sister had not told police she had been injected, Laurence Maguire added: “Daisy and no one in the group was interviewed by the police.”
The officers, although in plain clothes – Mykonos has been at the centre of a coronavirus outbreak that has seen the Greek government send in undercover police to ensure health protocols are adhered to – had shown their ID cards when they approached the melee, Paradissis said.
Pressed on what charges could be dropped, he singled out the accusation of verbal assault and bodily harm.
“The charges of resisting arrest and repeated bribery attempts could not be dropped under Greek law,” he said. “But verbal assault and physical assault could, I believe. It is by no means certain but theoretically the decision could be a very different one if Maguire was man enough and did what he should have done all along and apologised.”
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