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| Bellamy 'grabbed girl by throat' | Bellamy 'grabbed girl by throat' |
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| Premiership footballer Craig Bellamy grabbed a woman by the throat after they bumped into each other at a nightclub, a court heard today. | Premiership footballer Craig Bellamy grabbed a woman by the throat after they bumped into each other at a nightclub, a court heard today. |
| Cardiff magistrates heard how the Wales and Liverpool striker collided with Sophie Palmer, 19, before grabbing the wrist of her friend Holly Smith, 20. | Cardiff magistrates heard how the Wales and Liverpool striker collided with Sophie Palmer, 19, before grabbing the wrist of her friend Holly Smith, 20. |
| He followed the pair along the corridor of Cardiff's Number 10 nightclub and grabbed Ms Palmer by the throat. | He followed the pair along the corridor of Cardiff's Number 10 nightclub and grabbed Ms Palmer by the throat. |
| Mr Bellamy, 27, denies two counts of common assault. | |
| Mike Hammett, prosecuting, told the court the incident happened in the nightclub at around 0200 GMT on 5 February this year. | |
| He said that Mr Bellamy collided with Ms Palmer as she walked in the opposite direction and "words were exchanged". | |
| Mr Bellamy then grabbed Miss Palmer's friend, Holly Smith, by the wrist and swore at her. | |
| 'Slapped him' | |
| Magistrates heard how moments later he followed the two women and grabbed Ms Palmer around the throat. | |
| Mr Bellamy's friend and sometime minder Franklin Lynch is also accused of assaulting Ms Palmer and is said to have grabbed her in a bear hug as she tried to get help from nightclub bouncers. He denies a charge of common assault. | |
| Following the incident the two women from Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, made an official complaint to the police. | |
| The prosecutor told the court how Ms Palmer suffered bruising to her neck and a reopening of scarring on her breast and that her friend had bruising on her wrist. | |
| When interviewed by officers, Mr Bellamy said he had caught the eye of one of the women at which point she asked him "what he was looking at". | |
| He claimed he replied: "If I was looking at anyone it would be those two behind you because they are far prettier." | |
| Mr Bellamy then said the girl slapped him and he made a counter complaint to the police. |