The pop star Chris Brown was given an eight-month suspended prison sentence on Monday over a 2023 episode in which he repeatedly hit a man in the head with a tequila bottle in a London nightclub.
The presiding judge, Tony Baumgartner, said in a hearing at Southwark Crown Court in London that the assault by Mr. Brown, 37, was “serious violence” that caused “obvious risk of more serious injury” to others in a crowded venue. The singer had to be pulled away to stop the attack, Judge Baumgartner added.
The judge said that Mr. Brown should not receive preferential treatment because of his fame but that there were mitigating factors, including the short duration of the assault and the singer’s low risk of reoffending.
As the sentence was announced, Mr. Brown looked relieved as he stood in a glass box at the back of the court with his hands clasped in front of him.
The sentencing came three months after Mr. Brown pleaded guilty to a charge of affray, or using or threatening unlawful violence. At a previous hearing, the singer had pleaded not guilty to a more serious charge of grievous bodily harm with intent.
In court on Monday, the prosecution played CCTV footage of the assault. It showed Mr. Brown and members of his entourage attacking Abraham Diaw, a music producer, in a busy club, and Mr. Brown swinging a bottle at Mr. Diaw, who was initially facing away from the singer.
One CCTV sequence showed Mr. Brown and his entourage following Mr. Diaw into a corridor and punching in his direction. The assault lasted about 20 seconds, the prosecution said.
In a news release after the sentencing, Christina Jessah of the Metropolitan Police in London described the assault as “an inexcusable attack that put a man in hospital.”
Under British sentencing guidelines for affray, the judge had discretion to impose a sentence ranging from a fine to three years’ imprisonment. The British government passed a law this year advising that shorter custodial sentences be suspended to reduce prison overcrowding.
Sallie Bennett-Jenkins, Mr. Brown’s lawyer, told the court before the sentencing that the singer had offered a “profound apology” for the “ugly and unattractive incident,” which she also described as a “very short-lived” event that did not cause any severe injuries.
Inside the court, about 20 fans of Mr. Brown watched the proceedings, some of whom said in interviews beforehand that they had traveled from northern England to see the sentencing. One fan outside the court held a homemade sign with a message to Mr. Brown saying, “We came from Italy.”
Shortly after the sentencing, Mr. Brown posted a video on Instagram in which he appeared to be in a car leaving court, and gave a thumbs up toward the camera.
The suspended sentence means that he can likely proceed with a 15-date stadium tour in the United States with the R&B star Usher that starts Nov. 5 in Atlanta.
The criminal sentence was not Mr. Brown’s first. In 2009, he pleaded guilty in a Los Angeles court to assaulting the singer Rihanna, his girlfriend at the time. In that case, the judge sentenced Mr. Brown to five years’ probation. He later served 108 days in jail for breaching his probation when he was thrown out of a rehabilitation center where he was being treated for anger management.
In 2014, at another court hearing, Mr. Brown pleaded guilty to punching a man in the face outside a hotel in downtown Washington and was sentenced to time served.
Ms. Bennett-Jenkins told the court on Monday that the judge should view those earlier convictions “through the prism of youth and immaturity.”
The latest altercation occurred at the Tape London nightclub on Feb. 19, 2023.
Mr. Brown’s vocal coach, Omololu Akinlolu, was also involved in the assault, punching Mr. Diaw in the head and kicking him when he was on the ground. Mr. Akinlolu also pleaded guilty to affray at a previous hearing, and on Monday the judge gave him a four-month suspended prison sentence.
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