Australian soccer star Sam Kerr has been found not guilty of the racially aggravated harassment of a British police officer.
Kerr, a striker for the Matildas and for English club Chelsea, accepted she called Police Constable Stephen Lovell “stupid and white” during a heated exchange at a police station after a night out, but had denied that it amounted to the charge.
The verdict came about 2pm on Tuesday (1am on Wednesday AEDT), the seventh day of the trial at Kingston Crown Court in London.
Kerr showed no emotion during the reading of the verdict, but gave a thumbs-up to her barrister, Grace Forbes, after the judge had left.
It was alleged that Kerr and her fiance, Kristie Mewis, a US soccer player contracted to English team West Ham, 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.
At the police station, Kerr was alleged to have become insulting toward Lovell. Kerr accepted calling him “stupid and white” during a heated exchange but during the trial at Kingston Crown Court she denied that the words amounted to the charge.
Kerr denied using “whiteness as an insult”, saying: “I believed it was him using his power and privilege over me because he was accusing me of being something I’m not.”
Kerr told the court she felt “trapped” in the back of the taxi with Mewis and feared for her life, moments before Mewis broke the vehicle’s rear window.
The taxi driver has remained anonymous throughout court proceedings, which entered their seventh day today, and has never been called to give evidence as a witness.
Kerr, who identifies as a white Anglo-Indian, also told the court she believed police “were treating me differently because of what they perceived to be the color of my skin”.
After the jury reached its verdict, Judge Peter Lodder said of Kerr: “I take the view [that] her own behaviour contributed significantly to the bringing of this allegation. I don’t go behind the jury’s verdict but that has a significant bearing on the question of costs.”
Kerr is the captain and all-time leading scorer for Australia’s women’s team with 69 goals since her debut in 2009.
James Johnson, head of Australia’s Football Association, last week declined to comment on how Kerr’s return to the national team will be handled.
“We understand that there will be some disappointment out there (from fans), but what we would ask is that we all wait out,” Johnson said.
“What we need to do is give Sam the opportunity to go through the trial.
“Once we complete the trial, then we’ll have a holistic view of what’s happened.”
Kerr joined Chelsea in 2019 and has scored 99 goals in 128 games for the London club, which is the defending English champion and a top contender for the Women’s Champions League title this season.
She hasn’t played since sustaining an ACL injury in January 2024, during a warm-weather training camp with Chelsea in Morocco.
Kerr is expected to return in the coming weeks, in time to play for Australia in a pair of international friendlies against South Korea in April in the lead-up to the 2026 AFC Asian Cup.
