Chris Brown has pleaded guilty to affray after hitting a former friend over the head twice with a bottle at private members' club Tape London in Mayfair in 2023.
The 37-year-old R&B singer was due to face trial in October over more serious charges, including assault occasioning actual bodily harm against Abraham Diaw and two charges of possessing an offensive weapon. Those charges have been dropped.
Guilty plea to affray
At Southwark Crown Court on July 24, Brown and his vocal coach Omololu Akinlolu, 40, pleaded guilty to affray, which involves using or threatening unlawful violence towards another, causing a person at the scene to fear for their personal safety. They will be sentenced on October 26.
Prosecutor Heidi Stonecliffe KC applied for an extra charge of affray to be added to the indictment, which was accepted by all parties. The charge alleged that on February 19, 2023, Brown and Akinlolu used or threatened unlawful violence towards another, conduct that would cause a person of reasonable firmness to fear for his personal safety.
Bail conditions allow travel
Judge Tony Baumgartner bailed Brown and Akinlolu to be sentenced on October 26. Brown is allowed to leave the UK but must return on October 25. He was earlier ordered to pay a £5 million security fee as part of bail conditions that allowed him to go on a world tour.
Claire Campbell, Senior Crown Prosecutor in CPS London South, said: “This was a vicious and unprovoked attack by Brown and Akinlolu in a crowded nightclub where Brown used a glass bottle as a weapon to strike the victim’s head twice.”
