An ex-girlfriend of Jérôme Boateng accuses the former national soccer player of having beaten, bitten and boxed her while on vacation in the Caribbean. He denies that – and tells a completely different version in court.
[Munich -] Jérôme Boateng and a partner at the time had chosen a dreamlike setting for their heated argument in 2018: white beach, palm trees, private pool.
There is no doubt on either side that there was an escalation. But the versions are different. A good three years later, the scene is different: Boateng is on trial on Thursday. The soccer world champion from 2014, world-class central defender and idol has slipped from paradise before the Munich district court. He is charged with assault and insult.
The public prosecutor’s office accuses the 33-year-old, who has recently signed a contract with Olympique Lyon, of violently attacking a former partner in July 2018 on a family vacation on the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean. According to the indictment, he beat her, punched her, bit her in the head, threw her on the floor and insulted her violently.
“He grabbed my eye with his thumb,” said Boateng’s ex-girlfriend in court. “He tore my hair, then bit me in the head.” He spat on her. She then fell on her knees before he “punched her in the kidney” so hard that she could no longer breathe. According to public prosecutor Stefanie Eckert, he is also said to have thrown a glass lantern and a cooler bag at her “in full force”.
Boateng describes the incident in court differently: his former partner had become aggressive and insulting, injured his lip in an argument and hit him. When he tried to push her away from him, she fell. He didn’t throw a lantern at her either, but a pillow against a table – and the lantern fell to the floor.
The vacation had been very nice and peaceful until then. “It was a good mood,” he said – until there was an argument while playing cards in the evening because his partner at the time and her girlfriend accused him of cheating. Shortly afterwards, the mood escalated.
The dispute was about loyalty, about other, former partners. “Jealousy film,” says the partner at some point in her statement. Her and Boateng’s testimony are bursting with strong expressions that are said to have been used on July 19 in the holiday paradise. Between outbursts of anger, Boateng ran back and forth in his bungalow, she says – “like a tiger”.
Boateng says that back then – as often before – they argued about the question of how to organize family life. Boateng wanted to move from Bayern to Paris that summer.
The next day, however, the two had made up again. “We had spoken to each other, made up, the children were happy, danced.” She was “in a good mood”.
The trial against the former Bayern star and 2014 world champion began amid great media hype. Boateng appeared in the courtroom in a dark blue suit and white shirt. Thursday was initially the only scheduled day of negotiations.
The luxury pavilions that Boateng and his tour group lived in had a very special extra, as the footballer describes: There was a butler. That night he also swept up the broken pieces of the lantern and glasses. “I then said – in English: Sorry for the mess,” says Boateng: Sorry for the chaos. [dpa]
