The meerkat keeper, her love rival and a brawl over monkey business at the zoo
A MEERKAT keeper has been found guilty of assaulting a colleague in a brawl at London Zoo’s Christmas party after the two love rivals fought over the llama keeper.
Caroline Westlake hit her colleague Kate Sanders in the face with a glass leaving a wound that required stitches.
Westlake, who denied assault, claimed that it was an accident, and that Miss Sanders had already punched her, held her backwards over a 30ft balcony and then spat at her. Westminster magistrates’ court heard that the two female zoo workers, both 30, had been squabbling over Adam Davies, who had dated Miss Sanders, the zoo’s monkey keeper, for five years.
Following their break up, Mr Davies had asked Westlake on a date but she turned him down because she did not want to be his “rebound”.
He then dated a woman who worked in the gift shop for four months but when they broke up he kindled a rela- tionship with Westlake. The couple tried to avoid Miss Sanders, but the court heard she would send them texts and pictures when they were together.
The bitter feud came to a head at the staff Christmas party last December as Miss Sanders made a disparaging comment about Westlake’s appearance. Richard Doolan, prosecuting, said the argument that ensued “ended with the defendant hitting the victim in the side of the face. When she hit the victim she had a wine glass in her hand”.
Suzanne Kelly, defending, put it to Miss Sanders that she had instigated the Christmas party brawl with Westlake by punching her in the face and lunging at her, pushing her over nearby railings, causing extensive bruising to her lower back. She replied: “That is definitely not true. I did push her against the barrier to protect myself.”
Miss Sanders admitted seeing Mr Davies kiss another woman at a previous Christmas party but denied following him into the lavatories screaming and crying on that occasion.
She said: “It is not true that this happened because I am not jealous.”
Westlake, from Banstead, Surrey, was found guilty of one count of assault. She is due to be sentenced on October 14.
Miss Sanders, of Crouch End, north London, had already been given a final warning and been banned from Zoological Society of London events for two years as a result of the fight.
Westlake, who had worked at the zoo for four and a half years, was sacked from her job. Her lawyer said later that the court had found her client’s actions to be “not intentional” but “reckless by virtue of having a glass in her hand”. She added that Westlake intended to appeal.
‘The argument ended with the defendant hitting the victim in the face. She had a wine glass in her hand’