Rapper Bugzy Malone ‘punched two strangers in retribution’

The unlikely backdrop to the incident on September 9 2018 was the annual World Black Pudding Throwing Championships in Ramsbottom, near Bury, jurors at Manchester Crown Court were told.

A teenage girl and her friends, who were all big fans of the popular grime artist, decided to visit Malone’s new home opposite the town’s Nuttall Park and one of them, a teenage boy, peered over the electric gates and shouted his name.

Maria Brannan, prosecuting, said the teenagers ran off after somebody came out of the house and later a car sped past them and was driven at them as they fled to a nearby car park.

Malone, 30, appearing in court under his real name Aaron Davies, later told police he drove on to the car park to disperse the youths before he went to collect a relative.

The incident “terrified” the teenage girl – who cannot be identified for legal reasons – and she tearfully rang her parents who were at the black pudding festival, the court heard.

The boy who peered over the gates rang his father, who came to the park believing his son had been threatened, and he seemed to have been drinking, said Miss Brannan.

The prosecutor said it was apparent the father of the boy – who also cannot be identified – was “not going to let the matter go”.

In the end, the girl’s father suggested they go to the house to speak to the occupant, said Miss Brannan.

He did not know who Malone was and thought this would resolve matters.

The prosecutor said the boy’s father became “more erratic and aggressive” as they reached the entrance gates and started throwing stones before he squeezed through into the courtyard of the defendant’s home.

The girl’s father and a family friend were left with the children on the other side of the gates before the girl’s father then decided to squeeze through the gates himself to try to persuade the boy’s father to leave, the prosecutor said.

Miss Brannan said the boy’s father was in no mood for leaving.

She said: “He shouted threats and threw stones at the property. Thoroughly deplorable behaviour.

“In fact, the target of his anger – the defendant – was not at home. The defendant was out in his car. Only his partner, Miami McKenzie, and his mother Mavis were there. Mavis rang the police, whilst Miami rang the defendant.”

The girl’s father and his family group eventually decided to leave the area and were walking on Nuttall Hall Road when a neighbour of Malone approached them and grabbed the girl’s father to ask him what he had been doing.

Shortly after, the defendant pulled up in his black Mercedes car, got out and walked at speed towards the group, said the prosecutor.

Miss Brannan said Malone walked directly to the family friend and punched him hard to the jaw, sending him to the ground.

She said he “immediately” turned to the girl’s father and punched him too with another single hard blow to the jaw.

Malone then kicked the family friend in the back of the head as he walked past, said the prosecutor.

Malone later provided a prepared statement to police in which he said he received a call from his builder neighbour telling him his house was “being done over” and he should come home quickly.

He said when he drove on to Nuttall Hall Road he believed his neighbour was involved in a confrontation with the “burglars”.

Miss Brannan said: “He said one of the males had become aggressive towards him and had used racially abusive language. He had punched out twice, not hard but as a reflex motion when he felt he was about to be attacked.”

The prosecutor concluded: “The issue in this case is not whether the defendant punched the two men. He admits that he did. The issue for you is whether the defendant’s actions were reasonable in the circumstances.

“It is the prosecution’s case that this was nothing to do with self-defence and that the evidence will show the defendant’s actions that day were retribution. This was summary justice dispensed by the defendant at a time when he was consumed with rage. He hit and kicked those men as hard as he could because he believed – wrongly – that he needed to teach them a lesson.”

Giving evidence, the teenage girl said her father wanted to know why she was “in a state” when they met in the park.

Gordon Cole QC, defending Malone, asked her: “Did you see your dad try to punch Bugzy?”

The witness replied: “My dad didn’t try to punch Bugzy. My dad was already gripped up by somebody else.”

She said the punch to their family friend was “the awful-est thing I have ever seen in my whole life”.

Mr Cole put it to the girl that Malone did not go on to kick the man to the head.

She replied: “No, he did kick him. 100 percent.”

Mr Cole said: “Is it possible Bugzy jumped over him as he walked back to his house?”

The girl said: “I don’t understand why he would jump over him.”

Malone denies two counts of inflicting grievous bodily harm.

The trial continues.