Metal band Decapitated cleared of gang rape charges
The members of Decapitated have had charges against them dropped (Picture: Facebook/Decapitated)

Four members of Polish metal band Decapitated have had gang rape charges against them dropped.

Rafal Piotrowski, 31, Waclaw Kieltika, 35, Mikola Lysejko, 27, and Hubert Wiecek, 30, have been cleared of rape, due to the ‘wellbeing of the victim’.

A trial for all four members of the band had been scheduled for 16 January at the Spokane County Superior Court, but the case against the band has been dropped for the forseeable future.

According to the Spokesman Review, Spokane County Deputy Prosecutor Kelly Fitzgerald filed a motion dropping all rape and kidnapping charges without prejudice. This means that the four men could be prosecuted in the future.

Fitzgerald cited the wellbeing of the victim and ‘in the interest of justice’ as the reason for the dismissal of the case.

Wiecek and Kieltika in court
Wiecek and Kieltika, as well as their two other bandmates, have been detained in the US since their arrest (Picture: AP Photo/Nicholas K. Geranios, File)

Fitzgerald said of the accuser: ‘This has been traumatising to her. It’s obviously something that is a multiple defender case, and it would be a lengthy trial.

‘We’ve discussed with her and her advocates and feel at this time it’s best for her to heal.’

Piotrowski, Kieltika, Lysejko and Wiecek will now be permitted to go back to Poland after being detained in Spokane, Washington.

Piotrwoski’s lawyer Jeffry Finer said: ‘A close review of the evidence is all it took. We are not criticising the county for moving slow. It just took a long time to get all of the evidence, all of the witnesses, and there were so many witnesses.’

The band were arrested on 9 September accused of first degree kidnapping and gang-raping a fan on their tour bus in Spokane, Washington.

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All four men denied the charges and pleaded not guilty.

Their accuser alleges that she and a friend were invited onto Decapitated’s tour bus after their concert in Spokane on 31 August. The woman alleges that drummer Lysejko groped her breast, making her feel uncomfortable, so she gestured to her friend that they should leave.

However, after she went to the bathroom, she was allegedly followed into the bathroom by the band members where she claimed she was raped against the sink.

The woman’s friend alleges that she saw the alleged rape happen, and claims that she was left with bruising after being pushed to the floor by Piotrowski for refusing oral sex.

Decapitated are one of the most celebrated death metal bands in music, cited as one of the best examples of technical death metal.

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