Winehouse back for second day of assault trial

Amy Winehouse will be back in court today for the second day of her assault trial.

The 25-year-old singer is accused of punching Sherene Flash in the face at a charity ball in the UK.

Giving evidence at Westminster Magistrates Court yesterday, Winehouse denied the charge and said she felt intimidated and scared by the drunken dancer.

The singer said Miss Flash leaned over and put her arm round her while backstage at the Prince’s Trust ball in Berkeley Square, London, last September.

Winehouse would have been happy to pose for a picture with Miss Flash but had asked her to wait for a couple of minutes while she said goodbye to a friend, the court heard.

She said: “I pushed her up, like away. I wanted her away from me. It was more like an indication of: ’Leave me alone, I’m scared of you’.

“I meant to just get her away from me. I was scared. I thought, people are mad these days, people are just rude and mad, or people can’t handle their drink.”

Prosecutor Lyall Thompson described the singer’s actions as “deliberate assault”.

Miss Flash said Winehouse, who admitted having drunk champagne, vodka and white wine, was “not in a good state” when the attack happened and “looked drunk”.

Miss Flash admitted she was also “tipsy” after drinking red wine, three glasses of champagne and sips from a cocktail.

She said she ushered her friend Kieran Connolly, who was also drunk, into the photograph and Winehouse struck out, leaving her crying, in shock and unable to open her right eye “for a while”.

Winehouse has recently returned to the UK following an extended break in St Lucia.

She was divorced from her estranged husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, earlier this month but was referred to by her lawyer as Amy Jade Civil.