X Factor star Chico Slimani has been banned from driving for 12 months and fined after being found guilty of drink-driving. The 55-year-old singer, real name Yousseph Slimani, appeared at Willesden Magistrates' Court on Thursday.
Slimani, who reached the quarter-finals of the ITV talent show in 2005 and scored a number one single with It's Chico Time, was pulled over in Southgate, north London, on 13 December. He told the court he had been drinking whisky for six hours after losing a third friend to cancer, adding that he had also taken the cold and flu medication NyQuil.
The singer said he had broken his sobriety following three 'devastating' bereavements. 'It was after a third bereavement of one of my dearest friends, which was just devastating. On that fateful day – I'm teetotal, I don't drink – and it felt like I was going out of my mind, I couldn't take it, so I drank,' he told the court.
District Judge Mark Jabbitt said he was 'generally sympathetic' to Slimani's bereavements but not to excessive drinking or taking medication without checking its effect on driving. The judge ordered Slimani to pay a £600 fine and costs, and offered him a place on a drink-drivers' rehabilitation scheme.
Slimani described the incident as 'a catastrophe' that led to 'the loss of my reputation, the loss of work'. The court also heard he had been heavily in debt and faced county court proceedings.
