Dappy has gone on trial at Guildford crown court, where he has pleaded not guilty to four charges of assault and affray. The N-Dubz rapper has been accused of starting a brawl last year, after spitting at two girls outside a Surrey petrol station.
The first two days of proceedings have included opening statements, DNA evidence and CCTV footage, all linked to an incident in the early hours of 28 February 2012. Dappy, whose real name is Costadinos Contostavlos, is alleged to have approached two 18-year-old girls and asked them to come with him. When the girls refused, a fight broke out involving Dappy, one of his friends, and another group of men. Two co-defendants have also denied the charges, while another, 28-year-old Alfred Miller, pleaded guilty to affray. He awaits sentencing.
"What very quickly became apparent was [that] however interested Mr Contostavlos might have been in the girls, they were not interested in him," prosecutor Brian Stork said on Tuesday. "So his attitude changed, and from being polite and inviting he became rude. He called the girls 'slags'. He described one of them as 'ugly'. And then as a result of one of the girls calling him 'boring', he [spat at them]."
David Jenkins, who had just met the two girls, allegedly stepped in to defend them. Dappy spat at Jenkins, too, threw a punch, and, Stork said, "it all kicked off". CCTV footage shows Jenkins putting the rapper in a headlock, before the brawl exploded with the arrival of more friends and possibly Dappy's security. "Apparently i got arrested 4 talking 2 someones girlfriend in a P station," Dappy tweeted at the time. "Bunch of liars … Nooooo evidence u scums."
Although originally scheduled to begin in October, Dappy's trial was postponed to allow the musician to go on tour. If convicted, he faces up to six months in prison.
Dappy's debut solo album came out in October. It debuted at No 6.
