Dionne Knight was cleared over alleged jealousy-fuelled incident in south London
CLEARED: Dionne Knight—
A SOUTH London woman accused of intentionally throwing piping hot coffee on her former partner has been cleared of all charges after a jury found her not guilty.
Dionne Knight, 48, of Thornton Heath was accused of attacking Randall Bennett as he lay sleeping on the sofa after the pair had gone to the cinema.
According to Randall, his ex deliberately attacked him with a freshly brewed pot of coffee after he revealed that he planning a trip to Jamaica with another woman.
He said she poured a jug of coffee over his face deliberately in revenge when he said he was planning a trip to Jamaica with another woman.
The mother-of-three denied the allegations, telling the Old Bailey she spilled the hot beverage on him when he became forceful and pestered her for sex on the sofa.
Knight said she had made coffee in her kitchen when her former lover grabbed her from behind and pulled her into the living room for sex.
“I said, ‘what are you doing? If you want a coffee, let me make the coffee’,” she said.
“He pulled my head back and said: ‘come, I want some sex right on the sofa’.”
She said Bennett slapped her in the face and walked back to the living room, where he sat down on the settee.
Knight told jurors she spilled the freshly-made coffee on his face and left arm when he came back into the kitchen and dragged her towards the settee in the living room.
The estranged couple who have three children together split in 2013 but remained friends.
As Bennett explained, he had taken Knight and their 13-year-old daughter to the cinema that night (November 14), adding: “My daughter told me that I would like me, you and my mum to go out to watch a film for her birthday.”
They returned to Knight’s house at after 1am and stayed up drinking as their daughter went to bed.
Bennett said: “When she brought out the Baileys and the rum I said: ‘You have brought out so much alcohol. She said it was her birthday and she wanted to enjoy herself.”
Asked what could have sparked Knight’s alleged attack after he claims he dozed off on the sofa, Bennett told the court: “The atmosphere changed when she asked me if I’m really going to Jamaica with that woman and I said yes I’m going.”
Knight admitted that hearing her the father of her children would be holidaying with another woman did upset her but maintained that she would never intentionally hurt him.
Knight said: “I wouldn’t never do nothing to hurt that man.”
She added: “Yes, I was angry, that’s why I said I wouldn’t have sex with him at all.”
When quizzed about why she ran away from her house after the incident, Knight replied: “He’s a dangerous man.”
Describing the aftermath of the alleged attack, Bennett told the court: “The only thing I remember when I woke up is the heat in my face. It was a horrible feeling to be honest, lots of heat in my face just flashed up.”
He was injected with fluid to treat his burns at Mayday University Hospital, before receiving further treatment at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, the next day.
The jury found her not guilty of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm after a two-day trial.
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