'Frightened' Britney sought ex-manager's help, court told

The sister of Britney Spears’ former manager told a Los Angeles court that the pop singer said in recent months that she was afraid of her father and wanted help hiring her own lawyer.

Lawyers for Spears’ father and conservatorship are seeking a long-standing restraining order against Osama “Sam” Lutfi, a manager and close confidant of the 27-year-old singer during her personal meltdown, that forbids him from contacting her.

They reiterated yesterday that in December and January, Mr Lutfi broke an agreement between him and Jamie Spears not to contact the Circus singer.

That accord was reached last summer after Jamie Spears agreed not to seek an extension to a temporary restraining order issued when he took control of his daughter’s affairs.

But Christina Lutfi said Spears told her that she was afraid of her father and needed her brother’s help to hire her own lawyer.

The 25-year-old was introduced as a surprise witness, moments after a judge rejected a motion to dismiss the restraining order. She was also the last witness in a hearing that has spanned three months.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Aviva Bobb continued temporary orders until closing arguments on April 21.

Miss Lutfi said her brother gave her a pre-paid mobile phone, which she secretly gave to Spears at a hotel sauna, so that the two could contact each other. She said she repeatedly called the number, trying to make sure the singer was safe.

She claimed she used her brother’s phone in recent months. But under questioning by Jamie Spears’ lawyers, Miss Lutfi could not recall the phone number of one of her brother’s phones, nor the phone she said she handed to Spears.

She also acknowledged that she shared the mobile phone with her brother at their parents’ home, where a landline is installed.

Jamie Spears told the court in February that he eventually found and confiscated the phone, which indicated communications to Mr Lutfi and his daughter’s ex-boyfriend, Adnan Ghalib.

The phone’s discovery, and a series of late-night and early phone calls from Mr Lutfi, led to the current restraining order application.

Jamie Spears has controlled his daughter’s personal and financial affairs since last February, when he intervened after the singer had to be admitted to hospital twice. The singer’s mother, Lynne Spears, accused Mr Lutfi at the time of grinding pills into her daughter’s food to control her.

Mr Lutfi denied that claim in a defamation lawsuit filed against the Spears family in February.

Mr Lutfi’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, argued yesterday that Jamie Spears’ lawyers had not shown enough evidence that the pop singer had suffered “substantial emotional distress” as a result of the calls and text messages.

Judge Bobb rejected that argument when Mr Freedman moved to dismiss the case, saying that testimony from Britney Spears’ hairdresser and a security guard indicated the singer was troubled by Mr Lutfi’s overtures.