Chris Brown pleads not guilty to assault charge

R&B singer Chris Brown has pleaded not guilty to attempting to cause grievous bodily harm in an alleged bottle attack at a London nightclub.

The U.S. musician, 36, is accused of attempting to unlawfully and maliciously cause grievous bodily harm with intent to Abraham Diaw at the Tape venue on February 19, 2023.

His co-defendant, U.S. national Omololu Akinlolu, denied the same charge in a plea and trial preparation hearing at London’s Southwark Crown Court on Friday morning.

Both defendants are further charged with assaulting Diaw, occasioning him actual bodily harm, with Brown also facing one count of having an offensive weapon in a public place.

They were not asked to enter pleas to those charges with a further court hearing set for July 11.

Around 20 people sat in the public gallery behind the dock for Friday’s hearing, many of them fans of Brown.

A date for a five to seven-day trial was set for October 26, 2026.

Brown had arrived at around 9 am to a large group of photographers outside the court, and walked in silence to the building’s entrance.

The Go Crazy singer, who was able to continue with his scheduled international tour after he was freed on conditional bail last month, performed in Wales on Thursday night.

He had to pay a £5 million euro (6.7 million dollars) security fee to the court as part of the bail agreement, which is a financial guarantee to ensure a defendant returns to court and may be forfeited if they breach bail conditions.