Amy Winehouse Goes on Trial for Assault

Amy Winehouse stood trial in London Thursday after a woman claimed the singer punched her with deliberate and unjustifiable violence after she asked to take a photograph.

The singer denied assault, saying she was simply trying to get away from an intimidating fan.

Dancer Sherene Flash says Amy punched her in the the eye after asking to take her picture with the singer following a performance at a charity ball last September.

She said that shortly after midnight she had gone to Amy's dressing room and politely asked her to pose for a photograph with her friend, Kiaran Connolly, who, by his own admission, was “hammered” on after-show drinks.

“She punched me forcefully in my right eye. She used a fist, her right one. I started crying with shock. I couldn’t open my eye for a while," Sherene told the court.

Amy was immediately ushered away by her bodyguards. A recording of Sherene's 911 (or 999 in London) call to the police was played to the court.

Asked by the operator who had assaulted her, she replied: “Amy Winehouse, of all fu*king people.” She said she was left with a headache and a scratch to her eye.

For her part, Amy said she felt scared by Sherene, who had rudely ignored her offer to pose for a photograph after she had seen a friend out of the venue.

“She kneeled down to try to pose next to me. Her friend came round in front. I said, ‘Do I get a choice? Hello?’

“I wanted her away from me. It was like, ‘Leave me. I’m scared of you.’

“I said I would be back in two minutes. It’s just then she lent down all over me and put her face next to mine. She made her friend walk round to take a photograph.

“It’s just rude. My bodyguard was keeping an eye on what was going on.

“He stepped in. It was like, ‘Let that girl be, she’s drunk’.” She denied hitting the dancer with a clenched fist, insisting any injury was accidental. She added that she was worried that the woman was trying to sell her story to a tabloid newspaper.

She added: “People are just rude or just mad these days. Or people can’t handle drink.”

If found guilty of common assault, Amy faces up to six months in prison.