Cleared of three sex charges, facing re-trial on 13 counts (From Penarth Times)

Cleared of three sex charges, facing re-trial on 13 counts

A FORMER Penarth restaurant owner who filmed himself having sex with 14-year-olds has been cleared of three offences.

On thirteen other charges the jury failed to reach a verdict at Cardiff Crown Court. Antonio Zanellato, 62, of Albany Court, Beach Road, Penarth, said he believed the girls he indulged in sex acts with at his luxury flat were 17.

One of the youngsters told the court: "We told him we were 17."

In the course of the trial Zanellato said that he believed the girls were 17 and that he would not have touched them if he knew they were under age.

Judge David Wynn Morgan told the jury: "The consideration of whether these pictures are indecent is up to you.

"The girls were all under the age of 16.

"The issue that remains for you to determine is: has the prosecution proved that the defendant knew the girls concerned were under the age of 16?"

Zanellato once part owned the Mediterraneo Restaurant in Penarth but has had no connections with the business for three years.

He was born in Italy and settled in South Wales where he worked in the hotel and restaurant businesses.

He was arrested after the mother of one of the girls became suspicious and went to the police.

They seized dozens of video films from his flat in Penarth, many of which were hidden in a safe in his wardrobe and showed females in his bathroom Jacuzzi and in his bed.

Zanellato was found not guilty on three counts of taking indecent photographs of a girl under sixteen.

After retiring for several hours, the jury of six men and six women failed to reach verdicts on six other allegations of taking indecent photographs and seven of indecent assault.

The prosecution will now seek a retrial on those counts.