Judge Tony Baumgartner of the Southwark Crown Court has sentenced Grammy award-winning artiste Chris Brown to seven months’ imprisonment over a nightclub fight in 2023.
Brown, 37, had repeatedly struck Abe Diaw with a tequila bottle in the VIP section of Tape, a nightclub in London on February 19, 2023.
The singer and his vocal coach, Omololu Akinlolu, 40, pleaded guilty to affray, which involved threatening or using unlawful violence against another person.
Brown was sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment and 12 months of suspension.
Akinlolu was sentenced to four months’ imprisonment and suspended for 12 months. The duo were asked to pay £1,500 each as a contribution for the prosecutor’s fee.
Akinlolu’s sentence was significantly lower because he neither initiated the fight nor used a weapon against the defendant. But the court acknowledged his role as “significant” in the fight.
Prosecutor Heidi Stonecliffe KC said the weapon of violence was a “heavy square shaped tequila bottle.”
The singer was caught on camera hitting Abe Diaw with a tequila bottle four times in a 20-second video. Of the four times, Mr Brown hit Mr Diaw twice on his head.
The defendant argued the attack was brief, but the judge said it was “intense” albeit short.
The judge also acknowledged the singer’s violent history, noting his “two previous convictions involving violence.”
The convictions took place in 2009 and 2013.
But the defence pleaded that Chris Brown already offered a “profound apology” to Diaw.
“It is, however, an incident which was very short-lived, lasting something more than 17 seconds but no more than 20,” said his lawyer, Sallie Bennett-Jenkins KC.
“It is something, which undoubtedly would have caused distress to those who are present and for which Mr Brown… offers a profound apology to all those present.”
The singer’s lawyers described Chris Brown as a “dedicated and loving father of four children,” who has so far lived “a good and law-abiding life.”
But the judge insisted the use of a bottle endangered Diaw.
“The repeated use of a glass bottle in that way… was plainly dangerous,” Baumgartner said.
He said the act “carried the risk of causing significantly more serious injury than was ultimately sustained.”
Brown’s 12-month suspension means he will not immediately go to prison if he avoids committing any criminal offence within the period of suspension.
Should he commit any crime during the suspension , his sentence could be activated, and he will be required to go to jail to serve time.
The judge considered the artiste’s status as a father of four minors in delivering the sentence.
