Naomi Campbell pleads guilty in NYC to assault
Supermodel Naomi Campbell arrives for her court appearance in New York January 16, 2007. Campbell pleaded guilty in Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday to assaulting her housekeeper with a mobile phone and was sentenced to five days community service. [Reuters/Keith Bedford]
NEW YORK - Supermodel Naomi Campbell pleaded guilty in Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday to assaulting her housekeeper with a mobile telephone and was sentenced to five days of community service.
Campbell, who appeared in court in black pants, gray tweed double-breasted jacket and dark sunglasses, was also fined $363 and ordered to attend anger management classes after pleading guilty to third-degree assault.
The British beauty was initially charged in March 2006 with second-degree assault and faced up to seven years in prison.
Prosecutors said in court documents Campbell threw the phone at Ana Scolavino, 42, during a dispute over a pair of jeans. They said the phone hit the woman in the back of her head, opening a wound that required four staples to close.
Campbell did not comment as she left court.
Campbell, 36, is no stranger to controversy and has blamed her hot temper on lingering resentment toward her father for abandoning her as a child.
In June, a second maid, Gaby Gibson, said the celebrity struck her in the head. She has also filed a civil lawsuit accusing Campbell of personal injury, employment discrimination, civil assault and battery.
In July, former assistant Amanda Black also sued Campbell, saying she was subjected to a series of "verbal, physical and emotional attacks" by the model shortly after she was hired by her in February of 2005.
Campbell was arrested in October in London on suspicion of assault after a woman alleged she had been attacked at a London residence. Campbell's spokesman said the model had done nothing wrong and there had been a misunderstanding.
In February 2000, she pleaded guilty in a Canadian court for assaulting another former assistant with a telephone. In that case she paid the assistant an undisclosed amount of money and attended anger management classes.
Spotted on the streets of London's Covent Garden tourist area when she was 15, Campbell was the first black model to the grace covers of French and British Vogue.
She has acted in several films, co-wrote a novel and launched her own cosmetics products.
