A Miss Universe finalist was bitten and punched by her jealous ex-boyfriend who threatened to ‘f** up the rest’ of her life, a court heard today.
Chloe Othen, 33, was left with bite marks, bruises and a septic cut all over her body after she went to see ‘abusive’ Ricky Lawrence at his £1.5 million Knightsbridge flat.
Teary Miss Othen told jurors today that she feared Lawrence was going to murder her and was left ‘scared for her life’ after he invited her over by text in the early hours of October 15 2022.
A row erupted upon her arrival, with Lawrence allegedly lashing out and refusing to let the model, who has 305,000 followers on Instagram, leave the apartment.
She had tried to go but Lawrence is said to have snatched her phone from her hands, refusing to give it back. He then started repeatedly punching her head and biting her, jurors were told.
Chloe Othen, 33, was left with bite marks, bruises and cuts – some of which turned septic – all over her body a court heard
Ricky Lawrence’s is accused of attacking Miss Othen in his £1.5 million Knightsbridge flat
Teary Miss Othen told jurors today that she feared Lawrence was going to murder her and was left ‘scared for her life’
Miss Othen’s partner at the time, Bora Guccuk, 39, called her while she was at the apartment. Lawrence picked up the phone and allegedly threatened to kill him.
‘He said that he was going to finish me off and finish him (Bora) off, I saw him with my own eyes talking to Bora’, Miss othern said. ‘He was threatening Bora and myself.
‘He said he was going to slit my throat and his (Bora’s) throat, it is imprinted in my brain that whole night,’ she added.
Eventually Miss Othen managed to leave the property with Lawrence chucking the phone back at her, the court heard.
When police arrested Lawrence the next day, police found messages that the businessman had sent on the day of the alleged attack.
They read: ‘You f***ed up tonight, watch what I do now, you silly c***’ and ‘you f***ing stupid c***, you’re f****d now I swear, I will do anything in my power to f*** up the rest of your life, screenshot that.’
Holborn Crown Court heard this afternoon how one of the bite wounds on Miss Othen’s neck became septic and was left with a cauliflower ear which had to be drained following the punches.
Miss Othen told the court she was punched 30 times by Lawrence and claims he grabbed two knives saying he was going to slit her throat.
She said: ‘He just went into a frenzy and attacked me, bear hugged me, punched me about 30 times, bit me, strangled me, it went on for about an hour and a half or whenever I left.
‘He threw me on the floor, he dragged me by my hair, he pulled me up and down, he pinned me down, he strangled me, just as I was about to lose consciousness, he bit me on my neck and he punched me repeatedly.’
Holborn Crown Court heard how one of the bite wounds on Miss Othen’s neck became septic
Miss Othen pictured at Suspect Lingerie launch party in Mayfair in April 2022
Lawrence and the model had been in an ‘on and off’ relationship for six months between December 2021 and May 2022 before it ended.
Prosecutor Sheilagh Davies told the court that while the pair were no longer together and their relationship ‘did not last very long’ they were still in ‘occasional contact and met up from time to time, including on October 15.
She told the court: ‘What happened there was obviously behind closed doors, there was conversation but it seemed that after a period of time, matters turned very ugly and Chloe Othen felt she needed to leave and go home.
‘Her account is that as she got up to leave, Ricky Lawrence grabbed her phone out of her hand and refused to give it back. He then lashed out and punched her in the head.
‘He was biting her multiple times and you will see that there are indeed what you might conclude are bite marks in various places about her body.
‘She said Ricky Lawrence stopped her from leaving and she was effectively kept there for a period of time unwillingly.’
A row erupted upon her arrival, with Lawrence allegedly lashing out and refusing to let the model, who has 305,000 followers on Instagram , leave the apartment
Lawrence and the model had been in an ‘on and off’ relationship for six months between December 2021 and May 2022 before it ended
‘Bora Gucuk, who at that time had become her boyfriend, tried to call her and the prosecution say it was Ricky Lawrence who answered Chloe Othen’s phone and also threatened Bora Guccuk that he would kill him.’
The prosecution said that after Miss Othen ‘made her escape’ she called Mr Guccuk for help.
They met at the Berkeley hotel along with Miss Othen’s female friend Alexandra Ivanovic.
The prosecution added: ‘Police were called, they turned up at the Berkeley Hotel. Ricky Lawrence was arrested and in due course he was taken to the police station and interviewed.
‘He did not answer all the questions posed to him in the police interview, which is his right, but he did read a prepared statement. What he says is that the relationship had broken down but on 15 October.
Lawrence has denied one count of bodily harm. He told the court today: Chloe had turned up at my address, her partner contacted her, I told her to leave the flat as I did not want any trouble from her or her partner, I then ended the call.
He denied threatening to stab either Ms Othen or Mr Guccuk.
His statement continued: ‘She then began to scratch and hit me, I did not use unlawful violence against her and I believe her allegations are malicious and are a result of her not wanting to ruin her current relationship.’
Miss Othen was a finalist in Miss Universe GB in 2015 and has more than 300,000 followers on Instagram
Lawrence, of Hans Crescent, Knightsbridge, denies one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm against Miss Othen (pictured)
Ms Davies said: ‘Chloe Othen was also able to produce shortly after the incident, ten photographs that depicted her various nine or ten sites of injury and the following day further images were provided.
‘Chloe Othen had a number of injuries and very nasty injuries at that, the question for you will be, who caused them, they clearly cannot have been self inflicted, the crown case is that angry at the situation with Chloe Othen, Ricky Lawrence inflicted all those injuries on her.
Miss Othen told the court: ‘Ricky started becoming very aggressive on the texts and I thought I would let him calm down and then I would go and see him. Throughout the day, Ricky had asked me to come over.
‘I wanted to calm him down, Ricky was quite abusive during our relationship and he was quite aggressive. I did not want to be with Ricky anymore, it is really hard when you really love somebody but he is, to be honest with you a narcissist.
‘He would send me abuse all of the time, because I did not want to be back with him.’
Jurors heard Lawrence also sent Miss Othen messages saying: ‘I am the worst enemy, I don’t go away you silly c***, you thought you could mug me off’ and ‘I am going out of my way to f- your life up.’
‘I did not want to take him back and that is the only thing, this happened a lot during the relationship, so sometimes I would engage in conversation as it was easy for me actually, he is quite scary.
Miss Othen pictured with Georgia Harrison at Suspect Lingerie launch party in Mayfair in April 2022
‘It was normal that he would send me messages like this and then the next message or the next day he would be normal. He used to punch himself in the head quite a lot, he used to punch the wall, he used to pull his hair out.
‘Within five minutes of arriving, he snapped my phone. In hindsight, I genuinely think he wanted to kill me, I don’t understand why he took my phone, he did not have access to it, it was as soon as I arrived.
‘He did not say anything, he just snapped my phone, he told me I was not getting it back, it was his now and that was it.’
The court heard that Lawrence had a ‘big chip on his shoulder’ with regards to Mr Guccuk who she had dated for almost two years before breaking up and meeting Lawrence.
She accused the businessman of becoming ‘abusive’ and turning up unnaounced.
‘He (Lawrence) had a big chip on his shoulder with Bora, he would always say about affording things, Miss Othen told the court. ‘I did not demand anything from Ricky. I had not caused any problems, Ricky is the one who has been abusive.
‘He would turn up numerous times at my place in Queensway, the concierge would let him up, he turned up when I was at restaurants, he would turn up when I was in clubs, he even turned up in Mykonos on a beach.
‘He turned up for every dinner I had in Cannes, standing over me asking to talk, crying and punching himself. I was the one that was breaking up with him, he was the one that was begging me.’
Lawrence, of Hans Crescent, Knightsbridge, denies one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
The trial continues.