Bobby Brown Charged With Battery...
[From
AFP]
Whitney Houston becomes battered
wife as husband faces charges
Thu Dec 11, 2:52 AM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The rocky marriage
of singing sensation Whitney Houston (news), whose popular tunes include
"Love is a Contact Sport," has suffered another jolt after her husband,
singer Bobby Brown (news), was formally charged with beating her in the
couple's home in a posh Atlanta suburb.
Fulton County police spokesman Kurtis Young said the altercation inside the
mansion near Alpharetta, Georgia, had forced the world-famous diva to plead
for help in a frantic emergency call to police.
"That's why a report was filed, and that's an issue of domestic violence,"
Young told Fox News Channel.
A portion of the police report obtained by AFP said Houston had returned
home at approximately 8:20 pm Sunday (0120 GMT Monday) and was confronted by
her husband.
The reason for the argument was not mentioned, but the marriage of 13 years
has had a number of rough patches before.
The report quoted Houston as saying that Brown had threatened to "beat her
a.." and then struck the left side of her face with an open right hand.
"The victim had visible injuries to her face, which included a bruise on her
left cheek approximately one inch in diameter and a cut upper lip," the
document went on to say.
Houston told police that Brown, 34, left home five minutes later and headed
for the airport to catch a flight to Los Angeles, according to the report.
But it was not immediately clear whether he had actually left Georgia.
In any case, he was persuaded to turn himself in and appeared in Fulton
County Magistrate Court on Wednesday to face domestic violence charges,
police officials said.
"According to how the proceedings went, he did not deny anything that
happened at that particular time as the charges were filed," said Young.
The police spokesman declined to say what kind of punishment Brown could
face if found guilty of battery, but made clear authorities were taking the
case seriously in light of evidence of bodily harm.
Houston and Brown have separately retained attorneys in apparent preparation
for a legal fight, but the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Thursday quoted
Brown's lawyer, Maurice Bennett, as saying the couple was "trying to work it
out, as we speak, as husband and wife."
Sunday's brush with the law was by far not the first for Brown.
In August he served a week in jail for a probation violation stemming from a
1996 drunk driving conviction.
The singer, who began his climb to fame in the 1980s with the rythm-and-blues
group New Edition, was imprisoned for nearly a month in Florida in 2000 for
another probation violation in connection with the same case.
Meanwhile, Houston's career has been plagued by admitted drug and alcohol
abuse in the past.
NEWSFILE:
11 DECEMBER 2003
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