A court heard that a master tailor’s fiancée had to be dragged away from him after he repeatedly hit her head on the sidewalk outside a five-star luxury hotel in Mayfair.
After dining and drinking at a Peruvian restaurant in London, Richard Benettello, 41, alleges that the two were intoxicated and that he was only acting in “extreme self-defence.”
On May 27, 2017, a security guard dragged Mr. Benettello away from his lover Solankhe Tchikaya, 37, outside The Athenaeum in Piccadilly. Mr. Benettello has worked with Giorgio Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, and Burberry.
He admitted to assaulting the graduate marketing and communications expert at City of London Magistrates’ Court.
Mr. Benettello of Fulham Road in West Brompton was granted bail until July 29 for a pre-sentence investigation on the condition that he stay away from Ms. Tchikaya’s Fulham home in Munster Road.
The couple had just finished eating at the neighboring COYA Mayfair restaurant and had left around half past midnight, according to prosecutor Robert Simpson.
Filomena Clarizio, the restaurant’s manager, claims she overheard a call and assumed something was going on outside the establishment.
She claims to have seen the defendant and his accomplice when he was on top of her and she was hit in the head with the pavement.
According to the manager’s police statement, “I saw the male on top.” Security personnel intervened to separate them as he seized her hair and was slamming it to the ground.
He acts like that when he’s upset, Ms. Tchikaya informed the witnesses, and Benettello admitted: “I did nothing.”
Security personnel from The Athenaeum intervened to separate the couple, and according to Mr. Simpson, “the defendant was under the influence and had blood on his palm at the moment.”
Benettello’s blood was present, and Ms. Tchikaya had no obvious wounds.
He was taken into custody when the police were summoned, Mr. Simpson continued.
“The defendant presented a prepared statement throughout the interview and offered no further comments.
The complainant “has not at any point supported the prosecution and did make a declaration that nothing had happened and would have been a defense witness today if there had been a trial,” according to the statement.
However, Ms. Clarizio and the security guard were present and ready to present Benettello with evidence.
The complainant did not support this prosecution and never has, the defense attorney Milad Shojaei informed the court.
He acknowledges that when they stumbled while intoxicated, there was excessive self-defense.
He admits that his behavior was excessive. No injuries to her head were found, and the defendant’s blood was present, according to the paramedics.