The father of the young woman, who was left comatose after a heavy crash triggered by Bulgarian ice-dancing champion Maxim Staviiski, has been acquitted in court over donation misuse charges.

Krasimir Gorsov was charged with misusing a total of BGN 133,000 from the donation account that was opened following the crash.

The probe against him began after August 19 2008, when the Bulgarian TV channel bTV aired an investigative report showing Gorsov gambling huge amounts of money and simultaneously feeding several slot machines with BGN 100 bills.

Krasimir Gorsov was sentenced to a 2,5-year suspended jail time, a fine of BGN 132 287 – the amount he spent from Manuela's charity fund, 2 years of community service and paying the Court expenses in the amount of BGN 6 000.

Gorsov has admitted misusing his daughter's accounts and has stated that he was gambling BGN 4,000-5,000 each night, sometimes loosing as much as BGN 6,000 in a matter of hours.

After his appeal, a Sofia court found on Thursday that it is very difficult to prove how the money has been spent as most of the services the donation used to cover were paid in cash and with no documents signed.

The 19-year-old Manuela Gorsova was treated first in Israel and then moved to Sofia to continue her treatment under the monitoring of medics from the Military Medical Academy.

Doctors say that her condition is improving, she is more communicative and tries to speak but her recovery would be a very difficult process.

Bulgarian ice-dancing champion Maxim Staviiski pleaded guilty to drunken driving and received a suspended sentence at the beginning of January 2008 for a car crash that killed a man and left a woman comatose.

He collided head-on with a car carrying four people in August 2007 on a bridge over the Ropotamo River near Burgas.