Dizzee Rascal, a British rapper, has been found guilty of assaulting his former partner.
According to press reports in the United Kingdom, the musician, whose real name is Dylan Kwabena Mills, was found guilty of assault by beating on Monday at Wimbledon Magistrates Court. As he walked out of court, he allegedly broke a Press Association (PA) photographer’s camera.
The incident that led to Mills’ conviction occurred in June 2021, when he went to his former partner Cassandra Jones’ home in South London. The couple is the parents of two children.
Mills is said to have “barged” his way into Jones’ house before pushing her around the room and eventually to the floor. He also repeatedly smacked his head on the fridge.
Neighbors called the police after hearing loud shouting, according to a BBC report on the hearing. According to the report, district judge Polly Gledhill returned a guilty verdict, stating that the dispute arose over child custody issues as well as finances, and that Mills had become “abusive and aggressive.”
On his way out of the court on Monday, the rapper got into an altercation with PA photographer James Manning. “He came out of the court, and I was taking his picture, just standing on the corner,” Manning told PA. “He then shoved my camera in my face, causing it to fall to the floor, at which point he picked it up and threw it across the road.” It smashed into a lot of things.
Mills rose to prominence in the early 2000s with hits like “Fix Up, Look Sharp” and “Bonkers.” His debut album, “Boy in da Corner,” received the Mercury Music Prize in 2003. In 2020, he released his seventh studio album, “E3 AF,” the same year he was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to music.
Mills is also a regular on British television, having appeared on “The Great Celebrity Bake Off” last year. In addition, he will play a character in the upcoming Netflix animated anthology “The House.”
He will be sentenced on April 8 in London.
