Chelsea star Sam Kerr faces trial, accused of racially harassing policeman

Sam Kerr, the captain of the Australian women’s football team, is facing racial abuse charges in a London court after a drunken argument with a cab driver.

The star forward, who plays for Chelsea in the Women’s Super League, told the officer Stephen Lovell: “You guys are f****** stupid and white”.

Kerr, who has Indian ancestry, accepts saying those words but has pleaded not guilty to one count of racially aggravated harassment. She was allegedly making a statement about power and privilege, according to her attorney.

The 31-year-old sat in the dock on Monday at Kingston Crown Court as West Ham United’s Kristie Mewis, the prosecution’s attorney, told the jury that she and her partner, Kristie Mewis, called a taxi early on January 30th, 2023, after a night out with friends.

“Their cab journey did not go well”, Emlyn Jones said.

The cabbie reported that the police were attempting to smash a window, and the incident ended with the police calling them to complain.

The cab driver took them to a police station instead of Kerr’s home, after which she made the comment about Lovell’s ethnicity, Emlyn Jones said.

He added that Kerr’s statement was uncontested, leaving jurors to decide what she meant and how it affected Lovell.

Kerr’s lawyer Grace Forbes said Kerr’s words did not make her a criminal. “The law is a little more nuanced, a little more human than that”, she argued.

Because he is white, Sam Kerr did not feel hostility toward the officer. The words were a comment, we say – however poorly expressed – about positions of power, about privilege and about how those things might colour perception”.

Kerr is one of the world’s top female strikers, having scored 199 career goals across the Women’s Super League, Australia’s W-League and the National Women’s Soccer League.

She has been sidelined since January 2024 when she suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury, which also makes her Australia’s all-time top scorer with 69 goals in 128 appearances.

This week is the expected conclusion of her trial.