Elon Musk testifies he did not know ‘random creepy’ Brit diver he called ‘paedo guy’ was hero Thai cave rescuer

ELON Musk has claimed he didn't know a British diver was involved in the dramatic cave rescue of 12 boys when he branded him "paedo guy".

The Tesla billionaire told a defamation trial he thought Vernon Unsworth - who had scorned Musk's plan to build a mini submarine for the mission - was just "some random creepy guy".

The spat began while Unsworth was playing a leading role in the rescue of the football team and their coach from a flooded cave in Thailand in July 2018.

Musk, 48, had suggested he could build a miniature submarine to navigate the network of tight passages and lead the boys to safety.

But the expert dismissed it as a publicity stunt, adding Musk should "stick his submarine where it hurts”.

The Tesla CEO then lashed out, calling Unsworth a "paedo guy" in a tweet which he later deleted after a backlash from the public and pressure from investors.

He later labelled the cave diver a "child rapist" in a rambling email to a reporter.

Musk told a court on Los Angeles: "I just thought he was some random creepy guy the media were interviewing.

"I thought at the time he was unrelated to the rescue."

'I SAY A LOT OF THINGS'

The slurs prompted the diver, a 64-year-old financial broker originally from St Albans, Herts, to sue the tycoon.

Defending his remarks, Musk said: "I assume he did not mean literally to sodomise me with the submarine, just as I didn’t literally mean he was a paedophile."

He added: "There are a lot of things that I say.

"Not all of it is completely thoughtful."

Last night, one of the potential jurors bowed out of the process, saying he could not be impartial because he has an interview at Musk's SpaceX next week.

Other jurors called in for the beginning of the trial were excused for owning stock in Musk’s companies, and two avoided jury duty because they owned Teslas.

Musk’s lawyers also vetoed four potential jurors, most of whom were older women, and the two sides settled on a jury of three men and five women.

'SHAME, WORRY, AND STRESS'

After the eight were sworn in at the Los Angeles federal court, lawyers for both sides gave opening statements.

Mr Unsworth's attorney Taylor Wilson said his client suffered “shame, mortification, worry and stress” over the accusations, smearing “what should have been one of the proudest moments of his life."

Mr Musk’s lead attorney, Alex Spiro, told the jurors the Tesla founder’s tweets were not to be taken seriously, and were just “insults understood as insults” in an “argument between two men”.

Spiro accused Unsworth of lying saying that Musk was “asked to leave very quickly” when the billionaire arrived at the caves during the rescue mission.

He suggested that the British diver’s reputation had not been damaged by the spat, as he now has a talent agent and has been given honours by both the British and Thai governments.

Musk's team has said in the past that he refuses to settle the case out of court.

Unsworth's lawyers have called the Tesla billionaire “thin-skinned” and a “bully”.

He is seeking unspecified damages that are to be determined by a jury if he wins the case.