The CCTV cameras at Rita Ora’s birthday party were ‘turned off’, according to police

A member of staff at Rita Ora’s lockdown breaching 30th birthday party told police he was asked to turn the restaurant’s cameras off for the event.

Police are currently trying to get the Casa Cruz restaurant’s licence revoked ahead of a hearing on Thursday. As part of their report the police say they were told by a man working at the restaurant the day of the party, to turn off the CCTV cameras at the request of Rita’s security team.

Scottie Bhattarai, who was the manager of Casa Cruz, told police Rita’s reps called him on his personal mobile the day of the event at 5:30pm and asked to use the restaurant for “drinks and nibbles”. He also claims he was offered £5,000 for the use of the space.

via Instagram @ritaora

Rita’s infamous party in November last year was shut down by the police for breaching lockdown restrictions.

Police arrived at the scene at 11:30pm that evening where they reportedly heard music and saw the windows of the restaurant blacked out. The restaurant was given a £10,000 fine which Rita agreed to pay.

Scottie Bhattarai told the police security for the entourage wanted no footage of the guests arriving and so he turned off the CCTV cameras between 6:00pm and 6:30pm.

Bhattarai also claimed the cameras were faulty and scheduled for repair. There was no footage available for the month after being reformatted on 30th November.

via Instagram @ritaora

After the incident was initially reported Rita Ora apologised for breaking lockdown rules and said it was a spur of the moment decision.

She wrote on Instagram: “It was a spur of the moment decision made with the misguided view that we were coming out of lockdown and this would be OK… I’m deeply sorry for breaking the rules and in turn understand that this puts people at risk.

“This was a serious and inexcusable error of judgement. Given the restrictions, I realise how irresponsible these actions were and I take full responsibility.”

Other celebrities also in attendance at Rita’s birthday were Cara and Poppy Delevingne.

Featured image credit via Instagram @ritaora

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