Naomi Campbell charged with assault

Supermodel Naomi Campbell was due to appear in a New York court today charged with assault after allegedly hitting her housekeeper on the head with a phone.

Campbell will be arraigned at Manhattan Criminal Court after her arrest yesterday morning at her Park Avenue home, where police said the attack took place.

The alleged victim, a 41-year-old Hispanic woman, needed four stitches for a head wound, they said.

Campbell’s lawyer, David Breitbart, said the housekeeper had been fired because several items were missing from the house.

“When this happened this morning, all hell broke loose,” he said.

The woman had been working for the 35-year-old for two or three months, he added.

A spokesman for Campbell denied the supermodel was responsible for any assault.

“We believe this is a case of retaliation, because Naomi had fired her housekeeper earlier this morning,” he said. “We are confident the courts will see it the same way.”

Campbell left Manhattan’s Midtown North police precinct yesterday afternoon wearing a white poncho, sunglasses and a baseball cap, and flashed a brief smile at the waiting media.

She was driven in an unmarked police vehicle to the court for booking, where she told reporters: “I’m fine, the police have been really nice.”

At the court, Mr Breitbart added: “She’s in a great frame of mind and thrilled with the way that the NYPD had treated her.”

She had been taken into custody shortly after police went to the hospital to investigate the reported assault, and later charged with felony assault.

Campbell has a history of rows with employees.

In 2000 she pleaded guilty to attacking her personal assistant Georgina Galanis, who told a Canadian court the model hit her with a phone and threatened to throw her out of a moving car in Toronto.

A “remorseful” Campbell was given an absolute discharge and paid an undisclosed sum to her former employee.

The same year another PA, Vanessa Frisbee, also claimed she had been attacked during an argument, while in 2003 an aide sued after alleging Campbell had thrown a mobile phone at her.

In August 2004, police in New York recorded an allegation by Campbell’s housekeeper Millicent Burton that she had been punched and scratched during an argument over packing a suitcase.

Campbell also made a complaint of harassment against her 44-year-old employee, and no further action was taken.