Court of Appeal publishes full written reasons for acquitting ex-Wah!Banana actor Lev Panfilov of rape
Neither party's account could be said to be more believable than the other, said the court.
The Court of Appeal has published the detailed reasons for acquitting former Wah!Banana actor Lev Panfilov of charges of raping and sexually assaulting a woman he met on Tinder. Panfilov, a 30-year-old Russian national, was previously sentenced to 11 years and six months in prison and 12 strokes of the cane on May 19, 2025. The original trial judge convicted Panfilov, finding the complainant to be an unusually convincing witness while Panfilov was deemed an uncredible witness.
Panfilov appealed the verdict and was acquitted on September 2, 2025. The Court of Appeal's written reasons, published on November 5, 2025, state that the judge erred in finding the complainant's testimony unusually convincing. The court identified several inconsistencies and unresolved questions in the complainant's testimony, which gave rise to reasonable doubt regarding her credibility.
These inconsistencies included contradictions in her account of screaming during the alleged assault, the presence of blood-stained underwear, a memo seeking to confront Panfilov's family with allegations of rape, her initial hesitance to report the incident to the police, and a time gap in her account of the alleged assault. Despite noting that victims can react differently to sexual crimes, the court found that the inconsistencies in the complainant's testimony presented a reasonable doubt, leading to the acquittal of Panfilov of all charges.
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