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Legal
Winehouse: I’m too short to punch dancers
By CMU Editorial | Published on Friday 24 July 2009
Amy Winehouse spent her first day at Westminster Magistrate’s Court to face those previously reported charges of assault yesterday. It started well with her pirouetting for the judge. Winehouse is accused of punching Sherene Flash at a Princes Trust charity ball in London last summer, after Flash asked her to pose for a photograph.
Flash claims that she had gone to the singer’s dressing room shortly after midnight and politely asked to pose with her, while her friend, Kiaran Connolly, took the photo. Explaining what she claims happened next, Flash told the court: “She punched me forcefully in my right eye. She used a fist, her right one. I started crying with shock. I couldn’t open my eye for a while”. The prosecution added that Winehouse had acted with “deliberate and unjustifiable violence”.
However, Winehouse says otherwise, claiming that while Flash had been drunk and spoken rudely to her, she did not punch the fan. Pointing out that Flash is several inches taller than her, Winehouse went on to argue that she couldn’t have punched Flash in the way she claims because she’s just too short. The singer told the judge: “Miss Flash came over and put her arm around me. She lent down. She’s taller than me. I had flat shoes on”. She then left the witness box and twirled for the judge to show off her shoes, before continuing:”I’m probably 5ft 2ins to 3ins tall. But my hair does make a difference. I had shoes on like this. In fact these are the very shoes I had on that night. Look, they don’t even have a sole. They don’t have a heel”.
She added: “She kneeled down to try to pose next to me. Her friend came round in front. I said, ‘Do I get a choice? Hello?’ I wanted her away from me. It was like, ‘Leave me. I’m scared of you’. I said I would be back in two minutes. It’s just then she lent down all over me and put her face next to mine. She made her friend walk round to take a photograph. It’s just rude. My bodyguard was keeping an eye on what was going on. He stepped in. It was like, ‘Let that girl be, she’s drunk’. People are just rude or just mad these days. Or people can’t handle drink”.
Flash admitted to the court that she had been “tipsy” on champagne, while Connolly said that he had been “hammered”.
The trial continues.
