Tuesday, March 05, 2024 – Australia's superstar captain, Samantha Kerr, will face a criminal trial next year for alleged racially aggravated harassment of a police officer.
The Chelsea striker appeared in court on Monday March 4,
accused of using insulting, threatening, or abusive words that caused alarm or
distress to PC Lovell during an incident in Twickenham, southwest London,
on January 30 last year.
The 30-year-old, who appeared at Kingston Crown Court via
videolink, spoke only to confirm her identity and to enter a not-guilty plea to
the charge.
She was told she was obliged to attend a four-day trial,
scheduled for next February, during which two police officers are expected to
give evidence.
Judge Judith Elaine Coello said it was understood that the
footballer's defence would be that her intention was not to upset the
policeman.
'I understand that the defence is that she didn't intend to
cause alarm, harassment or distress to the officer, [her behaviour] did not
amount to it and it was not racially aggravated,' the judge asked Kerr's
barrister, Grace Forbes.
The charge comes as Kerr, who has scored 99 goals in 128
matches for Chelsea since signing in 2019, is sidelined with a long-term
anterior cruciate ligament injury sustained during the club's warm-weather
training camp in Morocco in January.
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