A British cave expert has testified that he was left feeling “humiliated, ashamed” and “dirtied” after Elon Musk labelled him “pedo guy” online. Vernon Unsworth is suing the Tesla founder for defamation. The diver, who helped rescue 12 boys trapped in a Thai cave final yr, informed a Los Angeles court docket that feedback Mr Musk made have been “very hurtful”. The pair received right into a public disagreement after Mr Unsworth dismissed a suggestion of assist from the billionaire. The case of the Thai boys, members of a football team who became trapped deep inside a cave in northern Thailand, captured the world’s attention in June 2018. Mr Musk despatched Tesla engineers and a small submarine to assist free the boys throughout the Thai rescue effort – however it was by no means used. Mr Unsworth later labelled it a “PR stunt” and urged the billionaire may “stick his submarine the place it hurts” throughout an interview with CNN. Mr Musk – who has virtually 30m Twitter followers – responded with a collection of posts about Mr Unsworth together with one the place he labelled him “pedo man”. US District Choose Stephen Wilson beforehand denied the defence’s request to outline Mr Unsworth as a “public determine” – which means legal professionals for Mr Unsworth would not have to show Mr Musk acted with “precise malice” to win the case. What did Mr Unsworth say? Mr Unsworth, who court docket reporters mentioned appeared on the verge of tears, mentioned he felt Mr Musk had branded him a paedophile. “It feels very uncooked. I really feel humiliated. Ashamed. Dirtied,” he informed the court docket. “Successfully, from day one, I used to be given a life sentence with out parole. It hurts to speak about it,” Mr Unsworth mentioned. He described the tweet as “very hurtful” and mentioned the expertise had left him feeling “very susceptible” and “very remoted”. The skilled cave explorer, 64, splits his time between the UK and Thailand. Throughout the rescue, he helped recruit skilled cave divers who have been instrumental in liberating the boys safely. “I discover it disgusting,” Mr Unsworth mentioned about Mr Musk’s “pedo” remark. “I discover it very laborious to even learn the phrase, by no means thoughts speak about.” What has Mr Musk mentioned? The Tesla and SpaceX founder testified throughout two days earlier than Mr Unsworth took to the stand. Throughout his testimony he apologised once more to Mr Unsworth for the tweets, whereas insisting he posted them “off the cuff” and never in a critical method. He informed the court docket he had not anticipated the “pedo” tweet to be taken actually and on the time thought Mr Unsworth “was just a few random creepy man” who was “unrelated to the rescue”. Mr Musk’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, testified in his opening statements that time period “pedo man” was a standard insult in South Africa, the place the billionaire grew up. Throughout his testimony Mr Musk additionally performed down different tweets, which have been additionally later deleted, together with one the place he replied “wager ya a signed greenback it is true” to a follower asking in regards to the “pedo” remark. Mr Musk additionally acknowledged in court docket that he paid $52,000 (£40,000) to a person posing as a personal detective to dig up dust in regards to the British diver after it turned clear he could be sued. The investigator turned out to be a conman, Mr Musk mentioned. Underneath questioning on Wednesday, Mr Musk estimated his internet value to be about $20bn however insisted most of his wealth was held in inventory. “Generally folks assume I’ve plenty of money. I truly do not,” he informed the court docket.