UK court told Kerr, partner feared kidnap by cab driver
A night of celebration ended in Sam Kerr crawling out of the broken back window of a taxi, then being arrested for racially aggravated abuse of a British police officer, causing “harassment, alarm or distress”, a court has heard.
Jurors in a London court have watched footage of the Matildas captain telling officers she and partner Kristie Mewis feared they were being kidnapped after the driver refused to let them out of his cab following a row over compensation for vomit in the back of his vehicle.
Kerr was recorded twice calling police constable Stephen Lovell “f—ing stupid and white”, and insisting on going to court rather than pay for the window, leading to her arrest.
The incident, which happened early on January 30, 2023, came after Kerr had been out with US international Mewis celebrating a hat-trick scored by Kerr in a Chelsea victory
Both were described by police witnesses as “inebriated, emotional” and in a “distressed state”.
Kerr’s lawyer Grace Forbes told Kingston Crown Court on Monday (local time) there was no intention to “cause harassment, alarm or distress to PC Lovell”, and even if that charge was made, it was not racially aggravated.
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“Samantha Kerr did not feel hostile to this officer because he is white. The words, however poorly expressed, were a comment on positions of power, privilege, and how things might colour perception,” she said.
Kerr faces a maximum penalty of 26 weeks in jail.
Kerr, who has pleaded not guilty, sat in the dock wearing all black as KC Bill Emlyn Hughes laid out the prosecution case. It included a half-hour video from body-worn camera recordings from one of Lovell’s colleagues.
During it, Kerr and Mewis are seen arguing with Lovell and his colleagues. They were sometimes abusive and teary as they explained they thought the driver was kidnapping them and feared they would be raped, which is why they were trying to break the window to escape.
“I hate to break it to you, but when a male is driving a f—ing car, for us, for two women, it’s f—ed, it’s f—ing scary,” Kerr says.
The women make several references to the 2021 rape and murder of Sarah Everard, 33, who was abducted in London by then-serving police officer Wayne Couzens.
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“This taxi driver held me and her hostage for about 15 minutes,” says Kerr, now 31.
“I was like, ‘Please, let us out and I will pay whatever you want’.
“We were begging to get out of there. We were trying to escape – we were trapped.
“You have to understand the emergency that both of us felt. What do you expect us to do, as women in that situation?”
In the video Lovell says that while he understands their fears, they were hypothetical and “did not happen” while the damage to the taxi “did happen”.
He offers them two options: Pay the fare, the cleaning fee and for the window damage, which totalled just under $A2000; or be arrested, charged with criminal damage, and state their case in court.
“I’ll take option two,” says Kerr, who a few moments earlier had said: “I’m not paying some dodgy c—‘s window. I will sit here until four in the morning and get the Chelsea lawyers on this. I am not backing down.”
She then calls Lovell “f—ing stupid and white”.
Kerr was then arrested on charges of criminal damage and racially aggravated public order.
Kerr and Mewis subsequently paid for the damage and that element was dropped.
The Western Australian’s parents Roger and Roxanne and brother Levi have flown over from Perth and were in court on Monday
Due to the media interest, they were surrounded by British and Australian reporters in the public gallery.
The trial, which is due to last four days, resumes on Tuesday with Kerr expected to give evidence.
