By Sam Tobin
LONDON (Reuters) -Australia women’s soccer captain Sam Kerr was on Tuesday found not guilty of racially abusing a British police officer after a dispute with a cab driver.
Kerr, who has Indian ancestry, called officer Stephen Lovell “stupid and white” after police were called following a drunken dispute with a cab driver in the early hours of January 30, 2023.
The 31-year-old, one of the world’s top female strikers who plays for Chelsea in the Women’s Super League, accepted saying those words but denied one count of racially aggravated harassment.
Her lawyer argued she was making a comment about power and privilege, and Kerr gave evidence that she felt police treated her differently because of the colour of her skin.
“I expressed myself poorly … the point I was trying to get across was I felt that they were treating me differently and not believing me and treating me as the person who had done something wrong,” Kerr told the jury.
Kerr was acquitted following a trial at Kingston Crown Court, which had prompted questions over her future as Australian captain – and the decision to charge her.
Australian human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald that the case should not have gone to trial, and Sports Minister Anika Wells told Sky News Australia that Kerr had “Australia behind her”.
NO EMOTION
The Crown Prosecution Service, which authorised the charge, said: “In this case, we decided that there was sufficient evidence and that it was in the public interest to proceed. We respect the jury’s decision.”
A spokesperson for Kerr did not immediately comment on the verdict.
Kerr showed no emotion as the verdict was delivered after around four hours of deliberation, as her partner Kristie Mewis cried in the public gallery. Kerr gave a thumbs-up to her lawyer Grace Forbes before leaving the dock.
Kerr’s trial focused on the aftermath of a night out which ended with Kerr and Mewis, who plays for West Ham United, hailing a London black cab to Kerr’s home.
The driver took them to a police station instead, with Kerr giving evidence that the driver began behaving erratically after she felt ill and spat out of the window.
Both Kerr and Mewis said they believed they were being held hostage, with Mewis kicking in the cab’s rear window in a bid to escape shortly before they arrived at the police station.
Lovell gave evidence that he was upset by the remark and denied an allegation by Kerr’s lawyer Forbes that he had claimed to be upset simply to secure a criminal charge.
Kerr, Australia’s all-time top scorer with 69 goals, has not played since suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury in January 2024.
(Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Sarah Young Christian Radnedge and Ed Osmond)
