'Witness can clear rapper in assault case'

A lawyer for Tony Yayo of the hip-hop group G-Unit told a judge in the US today that he has a witness who swears the rapper is innocent of slapping and punching a rival’s 14-year-old son.

Lawyer Scott Leemon said the witness, whose name he withheld, gave him a sworn statement saying he knows the teenager and Yayo and saying the boy was hit by another man, as yet unidentified.

Yayo, whose real name is Marvin Bernard, was charged in March with assault, harassment and endangering the welfare of a child.

He was accused of hitting James Rosemond, the son of Jimmy “Henchman” Rosemond, recording executive and manager of a rival rapper, The Game.

The boy accused Yayo of hitting him with his hand, “causing (his) face to strike the door of a building”, which caused him “to have a headache, an earache, and caused substantial pain to (his) face”, according to a court complaint.

Yayo, 29, has pleaded not guilty and is free on 5,000 dollars (£2,483) bail. He has “adamantly rejected” prosecutors’ offer of nine months in jail for a guilty plea.

“The witness clearly vindicates my client,” Mr Leemon said outside court.

The judge, told that detectives had not interviewed Mr Leemon’s witness, suggested that prosecutors speak to them as soon as practicable.

The judge estimated that the case would go to trial in December.