It took a jury just four hours and 17 minutes—including an hour for lunch—to find Australian women’s soccer captain Sam Kerr not guilty of the racially aggravated harassment of a police officer after a six-day trial at Kingston Crown Court.
The charges arose after Kerr and her fiancee, U.S. international Kristie Mewis, got into an altercation with a London taxi driver on Jan. 30, 2023.
Kerr, who admitted she was drunk, had vomited out of the cab window, and when an argument arose about paying a cleaning fee, Mewis kicked out the vehicle’s back window in an attempt to escape.
The couple claimed the driver had begun driving “crazily” after Kerr vomited, so they feared for their lives and thought they were being kidnapped. The driver was, in fact, taking them to Twickenham police station because, he told the court, they refused to pay his clean-up costs.
Kerr was interviewed for over an hour and subsequently charged by PC Stephen Lovell, the officer who she was accused of racially abusing.
The conversation grew heated after it became clear the officers did not believe the women’s version of events.
Kerr was alleged to have called Lovell “[expletive] stupid and white.”
Video of the interview played to the court also showed Kerr telling Lovell that she would refuse to pay for the damage to the taxi because the driver was a “dodgy [expletive],” although she did later pay $1,800 to the driver, thus avoiding a criminal damage charge.
In her evidence, Mewis said Lovell was “immediately dismissive” of the couple’s claim they had been “taken against our will.”
“He wasn’t believing what we were saying. It felt a little bit like gaslighting,” she said.
Also on the tape, Lovell can be heard telling Kerr: “You need to calm yourself down little missy.”
During the trial, it was put to Lovell that he made no mention of Kerr’s comments upsetting him in his original statement, but only did so in a subsequent statement 11 months later to get the case “over the line.” He denied this.
In her evidence, Kerr claimed her “stupid and white” comment did not amount to racial aggravation and denied using “whiteness as an insult.”
“I believed it was him using his power and privilege over me because he was accusing me of being something,” she said.
“I was trying to express that, due to the power and privilege they had, they would never have to understand what we had just gone through and the fear we were having for our lives.”
She said she was not saying the policeman was stupid “because he was white.”
Kerr did not react as the verdict was read, but subsequently gave a thumbs up to her barrister Grace Forbes, while a pregnant Mewis, sitting in the public gallery, burst into tears.
When Forbes raised the subject of costs, Judge Peter Lodder KC responded: “I take the view her own behaviour contributed significantly to the bringing of this allegation. I don’t go behind the jury’s verdict but that has a significant bearing on the question of costs.”
‘I Expressed Myself Poorly’: Kerr
Kerr said nothing outside court, but later posted a statement on social media in which she apologised for “expressing [herself] poorly on what was a traumatic evening,” and said she always maintained she did “not intend to insult or harm anyone.”“I am thankful the jury unanimously agreed,” she said.
Kerr thanked Mewis, her family, and supporters and said she was “fully focused on getting back on the pitch.”
The Australian soccer star, who has scored 69 goals in 128 matches for Australia and also captains the English club Chelsea, has been absent for 13 months with a knee injury but is expected back soon.
The Metropolitan Police also released a statement, saying it’s officers “perform a challenging job and are often subjected to various forms of abuse as they discharge their duty. We will continue to support all officers involved in this incident.”
“The matter was fully investigated with evidence presented to the Crown Prosecution Service who made the decision to charge. A jury has found Kerr not guilty and we respect their verdict,” it said.
Had she been convicted of racially aggravated harassment with intent to cause alarm or distress, a public order offence, she faced a maximum sentence of 26 weeks in jail.
