‘Two very angry girls’: Listen to four things Sam Kerr told police after drunken altercation

She said she did not remember calling Lovell “f—ing stupid and white” and, once played the tape, said it was not intended as a racial slur to cause him distress.

Asked if she was aware the comments amounted to an offence of public order, Kerr said she was not. Then she was asked if she was aware the words could be perceived as racist, to which she said: “I’m aware that anything can be perceived as racist for sure.”

Kerr and her partner, West Ham and former US midfielder Kristie Mewis, had been for a night out in south-west London and decided to get a taxi home in the early hours. The driver told police he drove the couple to Twickenham police station after one of the passengers was sick in his vehicle, refused to pay the clean-up fee, and smashed the rear window.

The pair, who admitted to being intoxicated, then told police the cabbie had tried to kidnap and hold them hostage.

“I apologise for putting them in a situation where they had to stay there for so long and deal with two very angry girls that probably wasn’t gonna get solved in that moment,” Kerr said according to the tape. [but] I just wanna add how like I didn’t feel we were being heard.

Kerr, one of the world’s finest women’s soccer players, is alleged to have become “abusive and insulting” towards Lovell, calling him “f—king stupid and white”. Kerr, who is of Anglo-Indian heritage, mentioned his ethnicity several times, including accusing him of “white privilege”.

Lovell said he was left feeling “upset” and “belittled”.

During her police interview, Kerr explained that she could not recall which officer was Lovell, but said: “We spoke to three officers and honestly I didn’t feel very helped”.

“I’ve never been in a situation like that where a taxi driver has locked the door and drove two females around for 15, 20 minutes without letting us go and that’s why I felt so angry and so upset and I apologise.”

Kerr told officers she had contacted emergency services about the driver, but Lovell said there was no record of that, the court heard.

The court heard police did not request copies of the emergency service calls at that time, and the taxi driver was never arrested or interviewed. His last involvement with officers was to facilitate the women paying him for damage to his car, police said.

Speed cameras that may have captured his vehicle were not checked, the court was told, no number plate recognition technology records were searched, nor was cell site data for his devices. Police asked if he had any recording device in his vehicle, and he told them that he did not, but the officers did not check the cab for such a device.

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Kerr is Australia’s all-time leading goalscorer with 69 goals. The alleged incident took place a day after Kerr had scored a hat-trick in Chelsea’s FA Cup victory over Liverpool. She has scored 99 goals in 128 appearances for Chelsea, but has not played in more than a year after rupturing her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in January 2024.

Kerr and Mewis are expected to give evidence on Wednesday (London time). The trial continues.

Audio source: Sam Kerr interview with police, Kingston Police Station, January 31, 2023.