Model 'pinned down, punched and bitten by abusive ex' in at his £1.5m home
A model revealed she thought she would die after being pinned down, punched and repeatedly bitten by her abusive boyfriend at his £1.5million home, a court has heard. Whiskey merchant Ricky Lawrence, 33, is accused of assaulting Chloe Othen, 34, at his £1.5m flat in Knightsbridge on October 15, 2022, after he invited her over via text.
But he later sent messages to his girlfriend that said: "I will do everything in my power to f*** you up." The pair had been in a relationship for around six months between December 2021 and May 2022 but remained 'on and off' after it ended.
Ms Othen, a finalist in Miss Universe GB in 2015, is a model and internet personality with 284,000 Instagram followers. She went over to Lawrence's apartment in Hans Place and a conversation between the pair led to Miss Othen feeling she needed to leave.
Ms Othen's partner, Hatton Garden jeweller Bora Guccuk, 41, called her and Lawrence picked up the phone, threatening to stab them both, jurors heard. Prosecutor Sheilagh Davies said her relationship with Lawrence was 'clearly an open relationship.
"When they had broken up she had resumed her old relationship with Mr Guccuk," the prosecutor said. "Ms Othen went to Lawrence's apartment in Hans Crescent, Knightsbridge 'on his invitation.'
"While she was there an argument broke out between them and he assaulted he,' said the prosecutor. He assaulted her on her right leg just above her knee, on her left leg on her thigh just below her hip, on her right arm just above her elbow, and on her right shoulder."
The couple broke up in the spring of 2022, but they continued to see each other from time to time. "She was aware that Ricky was sometimes unstable', said Ms Davies.
"He was someone who reacted badly when he doesn't get his own way. On 14 October there had been some loose arrangement that she would go to his flat, but for some reason she was late, and didn't get there until about 5am in the morning when, the prosecution say, all hell broke loose."
Mr Guccuk noticed that she was not at home, so he called her mobile, and Lawrence answered, the court heard. "He threatened to stab Chloe and Bora. He threatened that he would assault them and threatened all sorts of things," said Ms Davies. "That made Bora concerned not only for his own safety but for Chloe's as well. Bora could hear Chloe screaming 'help me, help me'."
Mr Guccuk contacted police and Ms Othen managed to escape to the Berkeley Hotel to meet her friend, Alexandra Ivanovic. Lawrence allegedly sent a number of abusive messages to Chloe just before the alleged assault.
He told her: "I'll do everything in my power to f*** you up. You're a lying little whore, you said you were coming to me an hour-and-a-half ago." Ms Othen went to A&E on October 16 where it was found one of the bite marks on her neck 'turned septic'. Following his arrest Lawrence told police he had 'repeatedly asked Chloe to leave but she continued to shout and scream.'
He denied assaulting Ms Othen and said: "I did not hold her unlawfully in my flat against her will. She has attacked me in the past. I have had to call police.'
The prosecutor said that the injuries were clearly not self-inflicted. Giving evidence Ms Othen described their relationship as 'narcissistic' adding: "You are addicted to the highs and lows. It is euphoric."
She said Lawrence beat her up and pinned her down, adding: "I genuinely thought I'm going to die."b She added that the attack left her with six bite marks and as a result she needed a "tetanus shot and antibiotics."
Ms Othen confirmed that she fell pregnant by Lawrence but she had an abortion. She described her on-off boyfriend as 'crazy' and said he even pursued her while she was at the Cannes film festival and at the Greek island of Mykonos with her friends.
Giving evidence from behind a screen Ms Othen was asked by the prosecutor how Lawrence reacts "when things weren't going his way?" She replied: "Crazy. He was abusive. Physically and verbally abusive. He begged for me back.
"He cried, he screamed. He shook me when I was in Mykonos", she replied. "When you are in a narcissistic relationship it's very hard to get out of. They tell you they are obsessed with you, that they love you...You just feel special.
"I didn't understand it completely until I saw a therapist about it." She said that when he started sending her abusive messages on the night of the alleged assault she tried to not allow them to affect her.
"I tried to just have a method where I don't let it affect me. I'll just stay calm, be like whatever. I asked him if he was drunk. He said he was sober."
She said she initially had not wanted to go to his flat because she was scared, adding: "I was genuinely scared to go there. It is not the first time it had happened. He had spat at me, kicked me. But never on the level that happened in October. I never foresaw that.
"I delayed because I thought maybe he would get bored, maybe he would go to sleep. When I got to his flat I walked in and sat down and spoke to him. I saw the look in his eyes and I saw they were black. I genuinely thought I was going to die. I genuinely on my life thought that.
"He stole my phone. He grabbed me, put me in a bear hug and then just punched me and thumped me. She said that her phone then rang and Lawrence answered.
"It was ringing, ringing. When he answered it he had already started beating me up. I screamed please call the police Ricky's going to kill me.'
"He punched me numerous times, kicked me strangled me." She said that she went to a window and tried to catch the attention of a member of the public.
"I signalled to a passer by to some and help me," she added. She told the court that one of the bites on her neck had become septic and that she had seen a private doctor.
"I had to have antibiotics for that. I had to consult a private doctor." She insisted that it had been Lawrence and no one else who had caused her her injuries.
"The only person who did those injuries to me was Ricky Lawrence. When I arrived at the hotel my friend saw me battered and bruised completely. There is no way that in seven minutes anyone else could have done that to me. The only person who did those injuries to me was Ricky Lawrence."
Lawrence, of Hans Crescent, Knightsbridge, denies one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
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