Chelsea striker Sam Kerr was Tuesday found not guilty of causing racially aggravated harassment after calling a British police officer “stupid and white”.
A jury at Kingston Crown Court in London cleared the Australian captain in relation to the incident in southwest London on January 30, 2023.
Kerr, 31, and her partner, West Ham midfielder Kristie Mewis, had been out drinking when they were driven to Twickenham Police Station by a taxi driver who complained they had refused to pay clean-up costs after one of them vomited, and one of them had smashed the vehicle’s rear window.
At the police station, Kerr became “abusive and insulting” towards police officer Stephen Lovell, calling him “stupid and white”.
A jury returned the not guilty verdict after deliberating for more than four hours since the previous day.
Judge Peter Lodder said after the verdict: “I take the view her own behaviour contributed significantly to the bringing of this allegation.
“I don’t go behind the jury’s verdict but that has a significant bearing on the question of costs.”
Kerr showed no emotion during the reading of the verdict but gave a thumbs up to her lawyer after the judge had left.
During the trial she said she regretted the way she had expressed herself but added: “I feel the message was still relevant”.
She denied using “whiteness as an insult”.
She said “I believed it was him using his power and privilege over me because he was accusing me of being something I’m not…. I was trying to express that due to the power and privilege they had, they would never have to understand what we had just gone through and the fear we were having for our lives.”
Kerr and Mewis told the court how they felt “dismissed” by Lovell after explaining how they had been “trapped” in the back of the taxi and “held against our will”.
Kerr, who is mixed race, told the jury: “I believed (they) were treating me differently because of what they perceived to be the colour of my skin — particularly PC Lovell’s behaviour.”
Prosecutors originally decided not to charge Kerr, the court heard.
It can now be reported that Kerr’s legal team attempted to get the case thrown out at a preliminary hearing, arguing there had been an abuse of process by prosecutors.
Speaking during the hearing on January 14, Kerr’s lawyer Grace Forbes said the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had violated its own guidance, adding that a “loophole” in the victims’ right of review scheme was used to justify prosecution proceedings a year after the alleged offence.
During the trial, it was put to Lovell that he only provided a statement alleging that Kerr’s comments had caused alarm or harassment after that decision.
In his first statement to prosecutors the officer made no mention of the “stupid and white” comment having an impact on him, the jury was told.
Police submitted a request to review the CPS decision not to prosecute, and it responded that the outcome would be limited to an apology, the court heard.
Prosecutors later requested further evidence and a second statement from Lovell was provided in December 2023, mentioning the alleged impact.
He read a section of the statement to the court, which said the comments made him “shocked, upset, and (left) me feeling humiliated”.
The charge was authorised later in December 2023, nearly a year after the incident.
Kerr made her debut for current Women’s Super League champions Chelsea in 2020. She is currently out of action with a knee injury.
In November, Kerr and Mewis were subjected to online homophobic abuse after announcing they were expecting a baby.
Chelsea said they had received “unacceptable and hateful homophobic comments” and Chelsea women’s coach Sonia Bompastor called the abuse “crazy”.
AFP
