Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor has said Sam Kerr‘s apology following being acquitted of racially aggravated harassment is “enough” and added that she has the support of the club.
Kerr has been on trial over the past week for the alleged abuse of a police officer. The incident took place in January 2023, when the Australia international was taken to a police station in southwest London along with her partner, United States midfielder Kristie Mewis, following a drunken dispute with a cab driver. It was there that she called the police officer “stupid and white.”
The 31-year-old, who is of Indian ancestry, accepted saying those words but denied one count of racially aggravated harassment. The case was heard at Kingston Crown Court, where she was acquitted of the charges by the jury on Tuesday.
Following the judgement, Kerr put out a statement apologising for “expressing myself poorly on what was a traumatic evening” but said she never intended to “insult or harm anyone.”
“Sam made a statement, she apologised and I think that is enough,” Bompastor told a news conference on Thursday.
“Everyone can make mistakes and that’s what you learn from and that’s how you move forward.
“What she was facing last week was hard enough for her so the only thing we want to do as a club is support her.”
Over the course of the trial, Kerr revealed how she felt “terrified for her life” during that fateful cab journey, where both her and Mewis felt they were being held hostage. The cab driver alleged that he had asked them to pay for cleanup costs after Kerr had been sick and following their protests, had driven them to to a police station instead of Kerr’s home.
At the police station, Kerr said she felt she was treated unfairly because of the colour of her skin and following a conversation with the officers, said: “You guys are f—ing stupid and white.”
“Who she is doesn’t reflect what I heard in the court and what I was reading in the newspapers,” Bompastor said.
“Sam, she’s a really shy person and she just wants to live a life, she doesn’t like to be in the light, shining. She’s a really normal person and she likes to be quiet.”
“It was difficult to see her in that situation. We are family and we were really supporting and I’m really glad the verdict was positive and now she can move forward,” she added.
