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Bellamy 'grabbed girl by throat' Bellamy 'grabbed girl by throat'
(about 1 hour later)
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.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. Ms Palmer, now 20, from Barry, near Cardiff, told the court how the incident unfolded 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". She said she encountered Mr Bellamy as she walked along a narrow corridor to the VIP bar followed by two friends.
Mr Bellamy then grabbed Miss Palmer's friend, Holly Smith, by the wrist and swore at her. "I began to walk through the gap and Craig Bellamy was walking in the other direction and he bumped into me. He was quite aggressive, he was just swaggering around," she said.
'Slapped him' He grabbed me with both hands around the neck and held me up against the wall and he was squeezing Sophie Palmer
Magistrates heard how moments later he followed the two women and grabbed Ms Palmer around the throat. "I turned around and said to him 'excuse me why couldn't you wait in that gap there'".
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. She said Mr Bellamy swore at her, saying she too fat to get around and called her a "slag".
Following the incident the two women from Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, made an official complaint to the police. Asked how she responded, Ms Palmer said: "I shrugged it off, said 'whatever' and kept walking in the direction I was going."
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. Soon after she turned around to see her friend Holly Smith "having words" with Mr Bellamy.
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". "I can't remember if he pushed her or she pushed him first, but they both pushed each other," she said.
He claimed he replied: "If I was looking at anyone it would be those two behind you because they are far prettier." Soon after, she told the hearing that the footballer followed her along the corridor.
"He grabbed me with both hands around the neck and held me up against the wall and he was squeezing," she said.
'Pushed'
The next thing she remembers was hearing people shouting "Get him off her," and somebody intervening.
"I pointed him out to the bouncer and said 'that's the guy who just strangled me'," she added.
The court heard how Mr Bellamy's friend and sometime minder Franklin Lynch then grabbed her with both hands and forced her out of the VIP room.
She said he pushed her with both hands until the reached the entrance of the nightclub where he held her by the bottom of the neck.
Mr Lynch, who denies a charge of common assault, was telling door staff to remove her from the nightclub while still holding onto her.
Ms Palmer, who used to work behind the bar at the same nightclub, said doormen calmed Mr Lynch down and he released her.
As a result of her ordeal, she said she suffered bruising to her arms and neck and scarring on her chest from recent surgery started to bleed.
Mike Hammett, prosecuting, told magistrates that 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 told officers that 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.Mr Bellamy then said the girl slapped him and he made a counter complaint to the police.
The trial continues.