Amy Winehouse pleads guilty to assault
(Agencies)
2010-01-21 07:49
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LONDON - British singer Amy Winehouse on Wednesday admitted attacking a theater manager at a Christmas pantomime.
The 26-year-old Grammy winner pleaded guilty to common assault and public order charges at Milton Keynes Magistrates' Court, according to the Press Association.
Winehouse assaulted 27-year-old theater manager Richard Pound after disrupting a performance of "Cinderella" at the Milton Keynes Theater in central England on December 19. The "Back to Black" singer was arrested four days later.
According to prosecuting lawyer Julian Vickery, Winehouse had been drinking before she arrived and raised her voice during the performance prompting a member of the audience to ask her to be quiet.
After leaving her seat later in the evening, Winehouse asked Pound for a drink and swore when he declined.
When he asked the singer to leave the building, she "felt embarrassed and patronized and, with no premeditation, grabbed his hair and pulled," Vickery added.
Winehouse was given a two year conditional discharge and ordered to pay 85 pounds ($140) in costs and 100 pounds in compensation to Pound.
"Mr. Pound is a person whose job involves interaction with the public," district judge Peter Crabtree told Winehouse, who wore a short dark skirt, white shirt and her trademark beehive hairstyle.
"If he's assaulted he deserves the court's protection. In this case it's obvious that alcohol played its part."
Passing sentence, he added: "It may be harder than a fine because you have now got to stay on the straight and narrow for the next two years."
Winehouse's musical career has been overshadowed by a torrid personal life, which has made her a tabloid favorite, and regular brushes with the law.