Guest wrote: ↑17 May 2024, 17:34
https://archive.ph/W7oNn
Sam Kerr’s bid to get her alleged race case claim against a police officer struck out of court on the grounds of abuse of process will now go to trial next year.
Matildas captain and Chelsea striker Sam Kerr will not appear in court on Monday.
Kerr, 30, and her legal team, led by senior UK criminal barrister Grace Forbes, were slated to appear at Kingston Crown Court to fight claims she insulted, threatened or caused alarm or distress to a police officer while returning home in a taxi on a night out with her fiancee on January 30 2023.
The judge in the case at Kingston Crown Court has cancelled the Chelsea striker’s preliminary hearing scheduled for Monday.
The case will now go to trial next year, after three delays which gave the prosecution extra time to gather evidence against the Australian captain, including CCTV footage that has captured the alleged racist rant.
The new date for the hearing is February 3 2025.
A clerk at the London court said:
“All issues between the parties have now been resolved.
“The next date we have for the case is the trial date of February 3 next year.
“The judge agreed for this to be the case administratively. Monday’s hearing is no longer needed.”
Kerr’s barrister Grace Forbes had previously requested that CCTV footage outside Twickenham police station and panning a custody suite be submitted as evidence in the case of Kerr, who is accused by PC Stephen Lovell of racial harassment.
It is understood he was called to diffuse a dispute over a taxi fare after the footballer had spent a night out celebrating a football win in London.
Her legal teams argue she was subject to abuse of process after it took a year for her to be charged.
Lawyers for Sam Kerr were on Monday due to attempt to have the criminal charge of racially aggravated harassment against her thrown out.
A trial lasting four days has been set for February next year – two years after the alleged offence occurred following a dispute over a cab fare.
It is alleged the taxi driver took Kerr, one of the world’s highest paid and talented players in women’s football, to a police station in Twickenham when the row escalated on the night she had been celebrating a win for Chelsea against Liverpool in the fourth round of the FA Cup, in which she scored a hat-trick.
If successful, lawyers for Kerr, who has been told she is not obliged to attend the hearing in person, will aim to have the charge downgraded or dismissed.
Documents previously lodged in court reveal her legal team intend to argue an abuse of process by crown prosecutors.
Kerr, who is recovering from a ruptured ACL sustained during a training camp in Morocco and who has extended her contract at Chelsea until 2025, strenuously denies she intended to insult or cause alarm or distress to police officer Stephen Lovell of Twickenham Police Station.
PC Lovell and a colleague were allegedly called to diffuse a row with the taxi driver over a fare when Kerr, who was with her fiancee Kristie Mewis, allegedly verbally abused the officer.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed she was charged on January 22 this year, almost 12 months after the alleged offence.
She was arrested at the time and interviewed.
In the UK, convictions for harassment can carry a sentence of up to six months in jail, or an unlimited fine, if the motive is found to be racially aggravated.
During a preliminary hearing on March 4, Kingston Crown Court heard body-worn video and CCTV cameras inside the police station’s custody suite may have captured footage of the alleged offence.
The court heard two body worn clips, labelled H8 and H9, had not yet been found by the prosecution.
Kerr, who has pleaded not guilty, did not disclose the incident to Football Australia throughout all of 2023 including during the FIFA World Cup tournament in Australia.
The Sun newspaper claimed on March 6 that she had called the officer a “stupid white bastard”, with Kerr’s team denying she used the word “bastard” instead calling the officer a “stupid white cop”.