Artist News Legal

Dappy begins trial on assault charge

By | Published on Thursday 19 June 2014

Dappy

Dappy appeared at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court to face charges of assaulting a man at the city’s Chicago’s nightclub earlier this year.

As previously reported, the former N-Dubber was at the venue for a ‘meet and greet’ and live performance when the incident happened. The court was told yesterday that Dappy slapped George Chittock in the smoking area outside the club in the earlier hours of 27 Feb.

Dappy claims that he had acted in self defence, that Chittock had abused him on two occasions during the evening – the second seeing him thrown out of the VIP area – and that he felt threatened by his victim when he saw him outside later, reports the Daily Mail.

But Chittock denies calling Dappy “a mug” or saying that he would “knock him out” when the celeb first arrived at the club. He did admit to being thrown out of the venue’s VIP area, but said this had been the result of a misunderstanding.

He also denied making comments about Dappy’s deceased father, saying that he had no idea that the rapper’s dad was even dead. Dappy then admitted that he had only heard about Chittock’s alleged comments about his father second hand from a friend, but insisted: “My friend would not lie about my dead dad”.

The court was shown CCTV footage of the incident, in which Dappy is seen, surrounded by his security team, to turn and slap Chittock. Prosecutor Jacquleine Carey said of the video: “When the defendant lashed out, he was not under any threat or any perceived threat of violence. The CCTV suggests he had no genuine and honest belief that he needed to use force to defend himself. He was effectively acting in a violent and unjustifiable manner”.

Dappy, however, said that when he turned around he feared that Chittock was about to attack and possibly stab him, saying: “He was being threatening towards me. I thought he was going to hit me. He’s right next to me. How can he get this close to me again? I lifted up my hand and tried to move him away from me. If it was an attack I would have repeatedly attacked him with closed fists … I was scared someone was going to put a hole in me. I have had to deal all my life with people trying to cut me and taking cheap shots. I don’t want to get stabbed. I don’t want to get hurt again”.

The rapper later repeated his claim that he had not slapped Chittock, rather had just “moved him away”, and accused the prosecutor Carey of launching “a stitch up”. He also denied the accusation that he had drunk half a bottle of vodka before the attack occurred, saying: “I was functional enough to go and do an amazing show, so I certainly wasn’t drunk”.

Dappy was not the only celebrity at the court yesterday, with Jim Davidson turning up to show his support for the rapper. He told reporters outside: “Dappy is a good friend of mine. We became close on ‘[Celebrity] Big Brother’. I don’t know what’s happened in this case but I’m just here to show him my support”.

The case continues.



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