Matildas captain Sam Kerr denied that calling a police officer “white” was used as an insult as she was cross-examined in her trial on a charge of racially aggravated harassment.
Kerr was speaking on the fourth day of the trial at Kingston Crown Court, following an incident in London on January 30, 2023.
It is alleged that Kerr and her partner, West Ham midfielder Kristie Mewis, had been out drinking when they were driven to the police station by a taxi driver, who complained that they refused to pay clean-up costs after one of them was sick, and that one of them smashed the vehicle’s rear window.
Kerr, who said she feared for her life as she felt “trapped” during the taxi ride, is alleged to have become abusive and insulting toward police constable Stephen Lovell at the police station, calling him “stupid and white”.
Kerr has accepted making the comments but denies that they amount to the charge.
Asked by prosecutors if she was using Lovell’s “whiteness as an insult” during the heated exchange with him at the police station, Kerr replied: “No, that’s not what I meant.”
Kerr, who identifies as a white Anglo-Indian, added: “I believed it was him using his power and privilege over me because he was accusing me of being something I’m not … I was trying to express that due to the power and privilege they had, they would never have to understand what we had just gone through, and the fear we were having for our lives.”
Asked if she was saying Lovell was “stupid because he was white,” Kerr said: “No.”
The court previously heard that Kerr told police “this is a racial … thing.” When asked about these comments, Kerr said: “I believed (they) were treating me differently because of what they perceived to be the color of my skin — particularly PC Lovell’s behavior.”
She added: “(It was) the way he was responding to me, cutting me off, names he was calling me, being dismissive.”
Kerr also claimed her perception was shaped by how officers were treating her differently to Mewis.
