British rapper, Lady Leshurr has claimed that ‘her career has been ruined’ despite being found not guilty of attacking her ex-girlfriend‘s partner.
The 35-year-old, whose real name is Melesha O’Garro, was accused of assaulting Chante Boyea – who at the time was dating her ex-girlfriend Sidnee Hussein in October, 2022.
What happened
The Queen’s Speech rapper allegedly bit Ms. Boyea’s hand so badly that she suffered ‘nerve damage’.
But a jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court in east London on Wednesday found her not guilty on two counts of occasioning actual bodily harm, a court official said.
O’Garro’s co-defendant, Sherelle Smith, was also found not guilty on one count of the same charge.
O’Garro counting her loss
Following the jury’s decision, O’Garro released a video on Instagram where she said she had been going through ‘one of the worst experiences of my life’ for the past year.
Dressed in a purple suit with a black T-shirt, the caption 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.
‘My brand/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.’
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Court heard and ruled
The court heard how the defendants flagged down Ms Boyea’s car at about 5am as she was driving to work.
Ms. Boyea, who was training to be a dog handler at the time, told the court that after she stopped, Ms. O’Garro ‘bit down on my hand and from that point on she didn’t let go’.
She said she could no longer hold a dog lead securely because she suffered nerve damage to her left hand.
‘I will never be able to continue in that line of work again,’ she told the court.
But defending Ms O’Garro, Ronnie Bergenthal told jurors that nerve damage did not appear in doctors notes.
The defence lawyer said that Ms Boyea used her security dog as a ‘weapon on Ms O’Garro’, adding: ‘You were directing that dog to bite Ms O’Garro.’
Ms Boyea said: ‘At no point did I throw punches or attack her or release the dog from the boot.’
Lady Leshurr, from Kingshurst, Solihull, is a MOBO Award winner and has gained a huge following for her freestyle raps.
She appeared on The Celebrity Circle and reached the semi-final of season 13 of Dancing of Ice in 2021 and featured as a guest panelist on ITV’s Loose Women in April and August 2022.
She also previously hosted a Saturday show on BBC Radio 1Xtra.
