I do not have evidence to the contrary. But a journalist carefully saying it is the opinion of the aggrieved party that the other person was an outright villain

I do not have evidence to the contrary. But a journalist carefully saying it is the opinion of the aggrieved party that the other person was an outright villain does not make it so. It could be true, it could be a mistake or somewhere in the middle. I don't think we will ever know.