BRIT Award winner Finley Quaye sentenced over drunken assault on bar manager
‘If you go around thumping managers in the face, I don’t suppose you are going to get much work,’ judge says
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A BRIT Award winner who punched a bar manager and threatened to stab him during a drunken assault, has been ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work,
Finley Quaye, a singer best known for work produced in the 1990s, assaulted Robert Jenei in west London on 8 September, in an unprovoked attack.
Quaye was performing at the Troubador, where Westminster Magistrates Court, heard he had been he had been drinking there throughout the evening.
The singer asked Mr Jenei to search for a female companion’s handbag, which he promptly did, the jury was told.
But when he returned, he found the singer making threats to security staff.
The court heard he kicked a BMW and shouted abuse at the people around him.
“I will stab you lot in the kidney,” the Scottish singer shouted. “I will stab you in the windpipe”.
He proceeded to punch Mr Jenei in the face.
The musician pleaded guilty to an assault charge during a hearing on 7 October.
Defending the singer, Shahnaz Sargeant said Quaye had been given a supply of free alcohol. She added that her client had not drunk much water.
Quaye had "made a determined effort to address his problems with alcohol and drugs,” Ms Sargent said, adding that he was "very sorry for the way he behaved towards Mr Jenei.”
The singer has a string of convictions for offences including battery and public disorder, the court heard, before judge Michael Snow sentenced him to 200 hours of unpaid work and a rehabilitation order. He was also ordered to pay costs and a fine totally £525.
“What makes this offence serious is the level of culpability involved – before the punch you made considerable threats that would have caused significant fear, then you punched this man in the face,” the judge told him.
“If you go around thumping managers in the face, I don’t suppose you are going to get much work," he added.
The court was told the singer is on benefits and lacks steady work.
Quaye offered to pay the sum at the rate of £15 a week.
He is best known for his album Maverick A Strike, released in 1997.
The record led to Quaye winning a 1997 Mobo award for best reggae act, in addition to a BRIT award the following year.
Additional reporting by agencies