Former stripper turned rapper denies injuring woman with plastic cup
A retired stripper turned rapper charged for recklessly wounding a legal assistant with a plastic cup has denied any involvement in the incident.
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A retired stripper turned rapper accused of throwing a cup at the face of a legal assistant at a Darlinghurst hotel last year has claimed “nothing happened” on the night in question.
Jessica Elizabeth Aitchison — also known by the stage name Jackel — gave evidence at Downing Centre Local Court today, where she denied any knowledge of or involvement in the alleged attack.
Aitchison, 26, had previously pleaded not guilty to recklessly wounding Lauren Cameron in the smoking area of Oxford St’s Burdekin Hotel on July 29 last year.
In court on Thursday the former Miss Nude Australia winner said she went to the venue with boyfriend Reece Mobbs between 12.30 and 12.45pm, bought two vodka lime sodas — only consuming one — and left about 1.30am because she was “tired” having finished work as a waitress at 11pm.
“We went to level three and I purchased a drink, Reece told me he wanted a cigarette,” she said.
After a “maximum of five minutes” in the smoking area, where she saw her ex-boyfriend, she told Mobbs she was “uncomfortable and I’d like to go home”.
“It just wasn’t my cup of tea,” Aitchison said. “I excused myself through people and left.”
She said she never had “any interaction” with Ms Cameron or her friend Amy Absalom, and had not seen them before they gave evidence against her in court in April.
The heavily tattooed New Zealander was “confused” when contacted by police a “five to seven days” after the incident but she “turned herself in” regardless, the court heard.
However, during cross-examination it was put to the 26-year-old that she had left the venue “in a hurry” because she had “just thrown a cup that hit someone in the face” and was worried “police could be on the way”.
“I put to you that you walked as fast as you could away from the venue,” the police prosecutor suggested.
Aitchison denied the suggestion: “That’s incorrect”.
It was also put to her that when she entered the room a female said, “The Jackel is here” and someone made “negative comments about Soundcloud rappers … and female rap careers”.
“No,” Aitchison replied.
The court heard in April Ms Cameron required 16 stitches in her lip after the incident that left her “scared and shocked”.
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Nine minutes of CCTV footage played to the court showed Aitchison leaving the smoking area by herself at 1.29am, but did not show her enter the room.
It appeared to show her holding a drink when she left the room.
Aitchison had told the court she returned the cup from her first drink to the bar “because I work in hospitality” and sat the second cup down on a ledge as she left.
Mobbs, 29, has also pleaded not guilty to a common assault charge on the night of the alleged incident.
Aitchison’s matter will return to court on September 19.
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