TELLY BABE’S LOVER ‘HURLED ACID AT DANCERS’
Court told about nightclub attack
TOWIE star Ferne McCann’s ex boyfriend Arthur Collins threw acid three times on to a packed nightclub dancefloor when a row over spiked drinks escalated, a court heard yesterday.
TOWIE star Ferne McCann’s ex-boyfriend threw acid three times onto a crowded dancefloor during a row over spiked drinks, a court heard.
Arthur Collins, father of the reality star’s unborn child, was caught on CCTV flinging the corrosive liquid into a man’s face after a scuffle, jurors were told.
The alleged acid attack left 16 people injured at the Wringer and Mangle nightclub in Dalston, east London, over the Easter weekend.
Collins and co-defendant Andre Phoenix, 21, went to the club together.
The 25-year-old admits throwing a substance, but denies he knew it was acid.
He is also said to have sent a text message to his sister a week before the incident telling her: “Tell mum to mind that little hand wash in my car acid.”
The attack was said to have started when Collins, wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the word Killer, allegedly heard one of the men injured by the acid talking about spiking a drink.
He branded the rival group of men “d***heads”, sparking a row.
Luke Ponte, prosecuting, said: “The dancefloor is crowded, it’s packed.
“People are enjoying themselves, just like any other club in the country.
“And again, just like anywhere else, a bit of trouble flares up. Nothing much at first, the beginnings of an argument. “It is not clear how this trouble started. “But it is very clear how it ended, suddenly and decisively, and not at all in keeping with what had gone before.
“One of the young men, perhaps perceiving the threat of a knife, threw a bottle ® or a container of acid into the face of another young man.
“As that man went down in pain, the aggressor threw acid at them a second time, and then a third time.”
Collins allegedly threw the liquid, while Phoenix, who was also injured in the attack, was claimed to be the “prime aggressor” in a scuffle.
Makai Brown, who was injured in the attack, told the court he was at the club with his cousin and two friends.
Trouble
George Carter-Stephenson, defending Collins, said to Mr Brown: “You were talking about spiking someone’s drink, at the top of the stairs, weren’t you?
But Mr Brown replied: “Is this what we are going to do, talk about me spiking someone? I refuse to answer that question.” Mr Brown denied that any row had taken place.
Mr Ponte added: “The crown’s case is that both Mr Collins and Mr Phoenix were in this together.
“The acid was spirited to the club by them for use as and when it might be needed. Who knows why they may have been ready for trouble, but they were.
“Mr Collins accepts that he threw the acid, once, twice and a third time. His case is that he did not know it was acid.”
Collins, from Broxbourne, Herts, and Phoenix, from Tottenham, north London, deny five counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and 11 charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
The trial continues at Wood Green Crown Court, north London.