Bombshell moments from Sam Kerr trial
Sam Kerr has endured a torrid week during an explosive trial in London as she faced charges of racially aggravated harassment of a police officer. See the full video of the star’s arrest.
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Sam Kerr, one of Australia’s - and the world’s - biggest sporting stars, is on trial in London accused of racially aggravated harassment after calling a police officer “f***ing stupid and white” when he doubted her claim of being “held hostage” by a taxi driver. The 31-year-old Matildas captain denies the charges. We take a look back at the biggest moments of the trial.
TAKEN ‘HOSTAGE’ FOR 50 MINUTES
Kerr told the court she and fiancee Kristie Mewis were held “hostage” in a cab after a late night out in London two years ago and she said they were driven around for 50 minutes by the driver who was driving dangerously and left the pair fearing for their lives.
“We were held hostage in that cab,” Ms Kerr said in body cam footage from inside Twickenham police station on January 30, 2023, which was played to the courtroom.
“When a male is driving a f---ing car fast, for two women, it’s f---ed, it’s f---ing scary,” she was heard saying on the vision.
Both women, who admitted they were drunk, got in a dispute with police about what happened during the cab journey from a nightclub to Kerr’s home after the Matildas star had vomited while in the car.
Kerr told the court this week she still believed she was taken hostage by the taxi driver.
She said the pair didn’t have their seatbelts on so they were “getting thrown around the cab” while the taxi driver was driving dangerously.
KERR ‘TREATED DIFFERENTLY’ BECAUSE OF SKIN COLOUR
Kerr told the courtroom she labelled police officer PC Stephen Lovell “f---ing stupid and white” because she was being treated differently by the policemen because of her skin colour.
“I felt like they were treating me differently and not believing me and treating me as a person who had done something wrong because they were in the position of privilege and power and I believe they were treating me differently because of the colour of my skin,” she said.
Kerr said she and one of her two brothers had experienced racism during their lives because of the colour of their skin.
Prosecution barrister Bill Emlyn Jones KC asked Kerr – who describes herself as white Anglo-Indian – during the proceedings: “At that moment of expressing your hostility to him (PC Lovell) because of what you thought to be his stupidity, you also choose to show hostility to him because of his whiteness? “ Kerr replied:
“It’s not what I meant”. Mr Emlyn Jones KC then asked: “It’s what you did isn’t it? “ Kerr replied, “It is what I did, yes”.
Kerr said she had begun experiencing racism from the age of about nine or ten and that race has always been a “touchy subject” in Australia particularly in relation to the Indigenous population.
KERR FELT ‘EMBARRASSED’ BY FOOTAGE
Kerr told the court she felt “embarrassed” after watching the footage back of her speaking with police inside Twickenham police station ahead of her arrest for aggravated racial harassment.
“It’s really hard to watch myself like that, I’m quite embarrassed watching that back,” she told the courtroom.
“It’s quite hard to watch yourself like that and watch yourself in that much distress”.
In the vision Kerr can be heard describing the taxi driver, who the court heard was Asian, as a “dodgy f---ing c — t”.
“I’m not paying for some f---ing dodgy f---ing c — t’s f---ing c — t’s window. He deserves it”.
She continued: “No I’m not paying for it. I will sit here until 4am get the f---ing Chelsea lawyers on this stupid [beeping].”
Kerr was referring to the smashed side window on the taxi that Mewis had smashed with her boots.
KERR ‘SHOWING OFF’ BANK BALANCE
PC Lovell told the court Kerr was showing off her wealth by showing him her bank balance on her phone when discussing issues over payment of the taxi fare.
Kerr was asked in court by prosecution lawyer Mr Emlyn Jones KC if she was “giving it the big I am”.
She rejected this and also clai that she showed PC Lovell her bank account on her phone when she walked up to him in the station and showed him the screen of her phone.
The audio could not be heard as it was in the first minute of the police footage that does not record audio.
Kerr said she was trying to “bluff” the police officers that she had would be able to call her “lawyer” and she would get the “Chelsea lawyers onto this”.
She said she was trying to bluff them to protect herself.
Mr Emlyn Jones KC put it to Kerr: “You were throwing your weight around, I’ve got Chelsea, I’ve got the best lawyers. Who is it with the power and privilege Kerr?”
She said in her testimony it was the police who had the power and privilege.
KERR’S SERIAL KILLER FEARS
Kerr told the court she grew up in Perth and she was scared about catching taxis because of the “Claremont Killer” Bradley Robert Edwards, a serial killer who was convicted over the killings of two women in 1996-97.
It was thought at the time taxi drivers were responsible for the murders of Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon.
Kerr told the court: “I lived in a state where for 30 years there was a serial killer that was thought to have been a taxi driver.
“Everyone was talking about not getting in a taxi.”
She said this was the reason why she did not get into taxis and she preferred Ubers because you could share your journey with friends as a safety mechanism.
KERR’S BABY JOY
Kerr said she met her partner Kristie Mewis, who plays for British women’s football team West Ham, after Mewis “slipped into my D ” (direct messages) on social media.
She told the court the pair are expecting their first child, a baby boy in May, and they will get married in December.
The couple were on a dinner “date” at Amazonico London in the exclusive suburb of Mayfair, before then attending a birthday party at nearby restaurant Bagatelle.
Kerr described herself as the “masculine one” in their relationship.
When Mewis gave testimony on Thursday dressed in a long-sleeved fitted dress, she broke down in tears while speaking about the Australian women’s sporting star.
Kerr is “so loving and she’s so humble” and “I wouldn’t want anyone else to be the mother of my child”, Mewis said.
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Originally published as Bombshell moments from Sam Kerr trial