Marlon King with his wife today. The court was
told that he yelled: 'Don't you know who I am? I'm a
millionaire'
A Premier League footballer punched a female student in
the face and broke her nose after groping her bottom at a
nightclub, a jury was told yesterday.
Marlon King, 29, a Wigan Athletic striker, was said to have
become angry after the woman rejected his advances, and told her:
“Don’t you know who I am? I’m a millionaire. You’re not even in my
league.”
When she pushed him away he hit her, leaving her with a broken
nose, split lip and blood pouring down her dress, jurors were
told.
Roger Daniells-Smith, for the prosecution, told Southwark Crown
Court that the attack was “completely gratuitous”.
The 20-year-old woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons,
had been celebrating a friend’s birthday at the Soho Revue Bar in
the West End of London last December when the argument started.
Shortly before 3am, Mr King, a married father of three, walked
over to the party of about 20 women and began touching the woman’s
bottom, it was claimed.
“That touching was sexual. It was neither welcomed nor
consensual,” Mr Daniells-Smith said. “He couldn’t have thought that
she would welcome that — he was a total stranger to her. This was
deliberate and sexual.”
Giving evidence, the woman said: “I felt someone grab my left
buttock. I turned around because I was quite disgusted and shocked.
There was a man standing towards the bar, smirking at me in a
suggestive way. I said quite firmly, ‘Don’t touch me, it’s not
nice.”
Adding that Mr King had “definitely not” accidentally brushed up
against her, she said that he then began touching two other women
in her group before one of them said “hands off”. It was then, Mr
Daniells-Smith said, that he asked: “Don’t you know who I am? I’m a
millionaire.” The woman replied: “I don’t care who you are, take
your millionaire self away from our table.”
The prosecution claims Mr King grabbed the woman’s wrist before
punching her in the face causing a broken nose, black eye and split
lip.
Mr King, from Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, denies sexual
assault and actual bodily harm. Mr Daniells-Smith said he claimed
that the woman was mistaken about the identity of the attacker.
The trial continues.
