USA: Supermodel Naomi Campbell pleads guilty to assault in New York City Criminal Court

Record ID: 187058

  • Title: USA: Supermodel Naomi Campbell pleads guilty to assault in New York City Criminal Court
  • Date: 17th January 2007
  • Summary: COURTROOM SKETCH
  • Embargoed: 1st February 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA6HDM16APXPJ9DZIWUTRIF6RLK
  • Story Text: Supermodel Naomi Campbell on Tuesday (January 16) admitted in a Manhattan court to throwing a mobile phone at her housekeeper and was sentenced to five days of community service for third-degree assault.
    Campbell, who appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court in black pants, grey tweed double-breasted jacket and dark sunglasses, was also fined 363 U.S. dollars (USD) and ordered to attend anger management classes after pleading guilty.
    The British beauty was charged in March 2006 with second-degree assault and faced up to seven years in prison and possible deportation.
    Prosecutors said in court documents Campbell threw the phone at Ana Scolavino, 42, during a dispute over a pair of jeans. They said the phone hit the woman in the back of her head, opening a wound that required four staples to close.
    Campbell did not comment as she left court. Her lawyer David Breitbart told reporters "Naomi Campbell entered a plea to a misdemeanour, it was categorized as a reckless assault which is different from an intentional assault."
    Speaking before the judge, Campbell admitted to throwing the phone, saying according to Breitbart, "she said that in her apartment she threw a phone and that that phone that she threw did hit an employee of hers but that it was not intentional. It was an accident and that she was very sorry about it."
    He said the judge recommended Campbell serve her community service indoors in a bid to avoid the throngs of photographers that surrounded singer Boy George as he attempted to sweep streets in lower Manhattan in August as part of a court-ordered community service.
    Campbell, 36, is no stranger to controversy and at least three employees have accused her of hitting or otherwise assaulting them. She has blamed her hot temper on lingering resentment toward her father for abandoning her as a child.
    In June, maid Gaby Gibson said the celebrity struck her in the head. She has filed a civil lawsuit accusing Campbell of personal injury, employment discrimination, civil assault and battery.
    In July, former assistant Amanda Black also sued Campbell, saying she was subjected to a series of "verbal, physical and emotional attacks" by the model shortly after she was hired by her in February of 2005.
    In February 2000, she pleaded guilty in a Canadian court for assaulting another former assistant with a telephone. In that case she paid the assistant an undisclosed amount of money and attended anger management classes.
    Spotted on the streets of London's Covent Garden tourist area when she was 15, Campbell was the first black model to the grace covers of French and British Vogue.
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