Liverpool striker Craig Bellamy grabbed a young woman's arm and pushed her against a wall following an altercation with her friend in a nightclub, a court heard on Friday.
Holly Smith, who was 18 at the time of the incident, said the Liverpool and Wales forward grabbed her when she challenged him for calling her friend Sophie Palmer fat. She said she later saw Bellamy grab Miss Palmer by her throat. The alleged incident happened in the city's No 10 nightclub on February 4, Cardiff Magistrates' Court heard.
Bellamy, 27, denies assaulting the two women. His friend Franklin Lynch, 52, of Glan-Y-Mor, Barry, south Wales, denies assaulting Miss Palmer.
Miss Smith told the court that Bellamy pushed past Sophie, not in an aggressive manner, but there was a collision between the two. She said: "Sophie said 'excuse me, don't push past me' or something along those lines. "The male became slightly more aggressive and called her a fat slag and asked who she thought she was. He said 'you shouldn't be pushing past me'.
"Following that, Sophie said 'whatever' and carried on walking and the male called her a f****** t***. "The male continued to walk past me and I said 'You shouldn't say things like that, it's not very nice'."
Miss Smith said it was at that point Bellamy became aggressive towards her. She said: "He grabbed my arm pushing me against the wall and my body followed." Miss Smith said she then pushed Bellamy away from her.
She added that shortly afterwards she heard Sophie make a noise: "I turned around and he had her with his hands around her throat."
She said she still did not recognise him as Craig Bellamy at this point, but said he looked familiar. She said the other friend Katherine Williams tried to separate the pair and she went to try and find a bouncer.
Miss Smith said that when she returned to the scene, Sophie was not there. She said the next time she saw her friend was inside the entrance to the club and Bellamy's friend Lynch was telling the bouncers to get her out.
Bellamy, 27, called a girl a fat slag.
