Assault charge against Justin Bieber dropped

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An assault charge against pop star Justin Bieber was withdrawn on Monday after the Crown concluded there was no reasonable prospect of conviction.

However, the wife of the alleged victim criticized the decision, saying the singer got away with the incident because he's a celebrity.

Mr. Bieber, who did not attend the proceedings at Toronto's Old City Hall courthouse, had been charged with assaulting a limousine driver after leaving a Toronto nightclub with five other people last December.

Crown attorney David Mitchell said he decided to drop the charge after reviewing police interviews with witnesses, surveillance videos and the 911 call.

"The Crown would be required to prove that an intentional application of force occurred as well as who applied that force," he told court. "There were a number of people in the vehicle seated behind the driver at the time of the incident and the Crown is not in a position to establish the identification of the person who came into contact with the complainant beyond a reasonable doubt based on the evidence available."

Brian Greenspan, Mr. Bieber's lawyer, said his client is "relieved".

"Mr. Bieber is innocent of the charges and will proceed on unimpeded by any suggestion that he engaged in any wrongdoing that night in Toronto," he told reporters. "That's obviously the right decision based on the evidence and we're pleased that the Crown arrived at it without the necessity of a trial."

Asked who had hit the driver, Mr. Greenspan said: "Quite frankly, it's our belief that no one assaulted the driver but that may be a continuing debate, but our position is that no one associated with Mr. Bieber ever came into any illegal contact with the driver."

In an interview, the wife of driver Abdul Mohar maintained that her husband had been assaulted and suggested the decision to drop charges was because of Mr. Bieber's star power.

"It's sad because the incident did happen and just because he's a celebrity, because of that, he's just going to get away with it?" said the woman, who declined to provide her name. "If it was my husband on the other hand, do you think he would be able to get away with it? Never, right? It would be completely different."

The woman, who said her husband was unavailable because he was working, said she suspected from the beginning that they wouldn't get justice in the matter.

"The purpose of charging him was for him to realize that he made a mistake and next time he shouldn't," she said. "It's not like we went out of our way and we sued him or we wanted to file a lawsuit against him. We took a criminal action against him and that was the purpose. I personally wanted him to apologize to him because he has no right to assault anybody. I just wanted that apology and it's too bad that they couldn't even get that for us."

The alleged incident occurred after Mr. Bieber had been partying with a group of friends at a nightclub early in the morning of Dec. 30 after attending a Maple Leafs game. He was charged a month later after turning himself into police.

Police initially alleged that the pop star struck Mr. Mohar "several times" on the back of the head. The driver phoned police, but officers say Mr. Bieber had left before they arrived.

Mr. Bieber, 20, has had several other recent run-ins with police.

During a trip to his hometown of Stratford, Ont., Mr. Bieber was charged with assault and dangerous driving after a collision sparked a physical altercation with paparazzi in late August.

Last month, the singer pleaded guilty to misdemeanour careless driving and resisting arrest charges in relation to what police initially called an illegal street drag race in Miami Beach in January. Mr. Bieber's plea deal includes a 12-hour anger management course, a $50,000 (U.S.) charitable contribution and court fines.

In July, Mr. Bieber resolved another criminal case by pleading no contest to a misdemeanour vandalism charge for throwing eggs at a neighbour's house in Los Angeles. In that case, he agreed to pay more than $80,000 in damages and meet a number of other conditions.