The shocking developments in Kevin Spacey’s sexual assault case continue.

Only a few days have passed since Spacey’s alleged groping victim suddenly dropped the civil lawsuit he filed against the actor. Now, the criminal case is skating on thin ice as the accuser invoked the Fifth Amendment when asked if he had deleted text messages that act as substantial evidence to the case.

Following this, Judge Tomas S. Barrett told the court on Monday, “The case revolves around this individual and without him the commonwealth will have a tough row to hoe.” Judge Barrett struck the accuser’s complete testimony from the record.

The accuser took the stance against self-incrimination after Spacey’s lawyer warned that erasing evidence is a felony. This was during a pretrial hearing last Monday. The accuser’s mother and former Boston TV anchor Heather Unruh also appeared in the trial testifying that she “deleted a few things” from her son’s phone. Although she reiterated that none of the content she erased is substantial to the case.

The phone in question, which contains incriminating evidence, had been lost after it was returned to the family by authorities back in December of 2017. It was handed over to local police for initial investigation.

Spacey’s defense attorney Alan Jackson told Judge Barret during the hearing “This case needs to be dismissed, and it needs to be dismissed today.” The case in question alleges that Spacey forced the then 18-year-old accuser to drink alcohol before groping him at a Nantucket bar on July 7, 2016.