The man accused of glassing television person, lanky dancing musician, and man of voluminous hair Redfoo has pleaded not guilty to the charges laid against him in Sydney’s Waverley Local Court this afternoon.
21 year old Arian Berisha has been charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and reckless wounding – charges that carry significant jail terms. Berisha pleaded not guilty on both counts.
The alleged incident occurred on August 28th at around 12:30am at the Golden Sheaf Hotel in Double Bay. Police allege that Berisha approached Redfoo – real name Stefan Gordy – before throwing a glass at him in an alleged unprovoked assault.
The ensuing social media storm has led to Berisha’s defence lawyer’s labelling it a “trial by media” and insisted that police are yet to issue them with a statement of facts, having to rely instead on Twitter to help ascertain what happened. Berisha’s solicitor, Brian Wrench, laid down this particularly magnificent indictment of the prosecutions case thus far:
“We’re not aware of the case against Mr Berisha, we’ve had to rely on Twitter, so we’re seeking a statement of more than 140 characters if possible.“
Police prosecutors were seen shortly afterwards applying ice to that sick burn.
Redfoo and his crew of homies were at the pub celebrating the release of a new song and were about to leave the premises when the alleged attack occurred. In a radio interview, Redfoo detailed his account of the assault.
“The first thing I do is look where it came from and I see, you know, a dude kind of like ducking and dodging and trying to run away, so the chase is on. But then he is being detained, and I’m being held back. The guy, it was just crazy. He did blow the kiss … like a taunting thing, you know. That’s just crazy to me. That’s too far.”
The alleged taunt – the one described by the victim as going too far – is not as of yet the subject of any legal proceedings, nor will it aggravate any potential consequences.
Arian Berisha’s bail has been continued. The case will return to court at some point next month.
Photo: Clive Brunskill via Getty Images.
via SMH.
