Sam Kerr video: Court told Matildas star and partner feared kidnap before calling police ‘f***king white and stupid’

A night of celebration ended in Sam Kerr crawling out of the broken back window of a taxi, then being arrested for racially aggravated abuse of a London police officer, causing “harassment, alarm or distress,” a UK court has been told.

Jurors watched footage of the Australian women’s football captain telling officers she and partner Kristie Mewis feared they were being kidnapped after the driver refused to let them out of his cab following a row over compensation for vomit in the back of his vehicle.

Kerr was recorded twice calling police constable Stephen Lovell “f***ing stupid and white,” and insisting on going to court rather than pay for the window, leading to her being arrested.

The incident, which took place in in the early hours of January 30, 2023, came after Kerr had been out with US international Mewis celebrating a hat-trick scored by Kerr in a Chelsea victory

Both were described by police witnesses as “inebriated, emotional” and in a “distressed state”.

Grace Forbes, counsel for the Matildas skipper, told Kingston Crown Court there was no intention to “cause harassment, alarm or distress to PC Lovell”, and even if that charge was made, it was not racially aggravated.

“Samantha Kerr did not feel hostile to this officer because he is white, the words, however poorly expressed, were a comment on positions of power, privilege, and how things might colour perception,” she said.

The maximum penalty under UK law is 26 weeks in jail.

Kerr, who has pleaded not guilty, sat in the dock wearing all black as KC Bill Emlyn Hughes laid out the prosecution case which included a video lasting about 30 minutes made up of body-worn-camera recordings from one of PC Lovell’s colleagues.

During it, Kerr and Mewis are seen arguing with PC Lovell and his colleagues, at times becoming abusive and also crying as they explain they thought the driver was kidnapping them and feared they would be raped, which is why they were trying to break the window to escape.

“I hate to break it to you, but when a male is driving a f***ing car, for us, for two women, it’s f***ed, it’s f***ing scary,” says Kerr.

SEE THE POLICE VIDEO IN THE PLAYER ABOVE

On several occasions they reference the rape and murder of Sarah Everard, 33, who had been abducted in London by then-serving police officer Wayne Couzens in 2021.

“This taxi driver held me and her hostage for about 15 minutes,” adds Kerr, now 31.

“I was like, ‘Please, let us out and I will pay whatever you want’.

“We were begging to get out of there. We were trying to escape - we were trapped.

“You have to understand the emergency that both of us felt. What do you expect us to do as women in that situation?”

In the video PC Lovell says that while he understands their fears, they were hypothetical and “did not happen” while the damage to the taxi “did happen”.

He offers them two options: pay the fare, the cleaning fee and for the window damage, which totalled just under $A2000; or be arrested, charged with criminal damage, and state their case in court.

“I’ll take option two,” says Kerr, who a few moments earlier had said: “I’m not paying some dodgy c***’s window. I will sit here until four in the morning and get the Chelsea lawyers on this. I am not backing down.”

She then calls Lovell “f***ing stupid and white”.

Kerr is then placed under arrest for criminal damage and racially aggravated public order.

Kerr and Mewis subsequently paid for the damage and that element was dropped.

The West Australian’s parents Roger and Roxanne and brother Levi have flown over from Perth and were in court.

Due to the media interest, they were surrounded by British and Australian reporters in the public gallery.

The trial, which is due to last four days, resumes on Tuesday with Kerr expected to give evidence.