01 November 2023 , 21:27
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Lady Leshurr was found not guilty of attacking her ex-girlfriend's partner.
The 35-year-old rapper, whose real name is Melesha O'Garro, was accused of assaulting Chante Boyea – who at the time was dating her ex-girlfriend Sidnee Hussein – just after 5am on October 22 2022, allegedly biting her hand so badly that she suffered "nerve damage".
A jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court in east London on Wednesday (November 1) found her not guilty on two counts of occasioning actual bodily harm, a court official said. Earlier in the trial, the former Dancing On Ice contestant said that Ms Boyea, a security officer, attacked her first and used her Belgian Malinois dog Toby as a "weapon" during the incident in Walthamstow, north-east London – a claim she strongly denied.
Leshurr was found not guilty of attacking her ex-girlfriend's partner (Redferns)
She was found not guilty on two counts of occasioning actual bodily harm (Instagram/imladyleshurr)O’Garro’s co-defendant, Sherelle Smith, was also found not guilty on one count of the same charge. Earlier today, Leshurr took to her social media to reveal how she had been impacted by the case. Alongside a video of herself, she said: "For the past year I’ve been battling a court case from people that accused me of stalking, harassing, and biting them but I was the victim.
"I was attacked and bitten by a dog and made out to be the aggressor. For a whole year people have deserted me, dropped me from deals, and didn’t want to work with me anymore. For a whole year I have had no income. Today has been judgement day. I’m shaking whilst I write this.
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"My career has been ruined regardless no matter the outcome, but at least I have a clean record and can FINALLY get on with my life. #JUSTICEISSERVED #NOTGUILTY CARMENSSPIRIT #GODISGREAT." She also thanked "everyone who believed" in her and added: "I am not the person the media has tried to make me out to be."
At the start of the trial earlier this month, prosecutor Polly Dyer said in her opening statement: "In a nutshell, this is a case where in the early hours of the morning, after a night out, the defendants went and loitered outside one of their ex-girlfriend’s houses, before going on to attack the ex-girlfriend’s then new partner, followed by the ex-girlfriend.
"It was undeniably a relatively quick and dynamic incident, but the key issue you may think is who were the aggressors?" It's claimed that Boyea had left the home of Sidnee before a car, appearing to be carrying two distressed women flagged her down before they allegedly "started shouting at her".
Known professionally as Lady Leshurr, Ms O'Garro is a MOBO Award winner and has achieved critical acclaim for her freestyle raps. Away from music, she appeared on The Celebrity Circle in 2021, reached the semi-final of the 13th series of Dancing On Ice in 2021 and in April and August 2022, appeared as a guest panellist on the ITV show Loose Women.