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Ian Gough found guilty of assaulting model Sophia Cahill | |
(about 1 hour later) | |
Wales rugby star Ian Gough has been found guilty of assaulting his ex-girlfriend, former Miss Wales Sophia Cahill, days after her engagement to pop star Dane Bowers. | |
Gough shoved Ms Cahill into the passenger door of his campervan outside her home in London, aggravating injuries she had from a car accident. | |
Ms Cahill told Croydon Magistrates' Court she was "shocked and upset" and fled back into her house crying. | Ms Cahill told Croydon Magistrates' Court she was "shocked and upset" and fled back into her house crying. |
Gough, from Swansea, denied assault. | |
Mother-of-two Ms Cahill gave evidence behind a curtain so she did not have to face her ex-boyfriend. | |
The Newport Dragons star, who made 64 appearances for Wales, had arrived an hour late for a meeting with Ms Cahill on 5 January. | |
'Stormed around' | |
Recounting her ordeal, she said: "It was raining so I went out to the van. I expected Ian to get out but he was on his phone as if he was texting." | |
She said she stood there for a few seconds with no obvious signs Gough was going to get out, and it looked as if the player was mocking her because she was out in the rain. | |
"I opened the passenger door and Ian just stormed around the front of the van," she said. | |
"He had the front of my shoulder and he just flung me back," the model said, adding Gough told her "get away" as he attacked her. | |
She called police about 10 minutes after the incident and Mr Bowers sent an angry text to the rugby player, the court heard. | |
Mr Bowers, the former Another Level star who had just got engaged to Ms Cahill, earlier told how he had witnessed the attack from the window of their home. | |
He said: "He grabbed Sophie and moved her away from the car. It was forceful enough that I wondered... I couldn't hear what was said. | |
"But in my eyes he had no reason or permission to grab her and move her out of the way." | |
Ms Cahill told the court she had suffered whiplash requiring hospital treatment in a car accident and that Gough's attack made her injuries worse. | |
Mark Haslam, defending, said Gough did not attack Ms Cahill, but told her not to open the passenger door because he feared it could trigger her back injury. | |
He also accused the model of being "abusive and swearing" at Gough, which she denied. | |
She said: "There is absolutely no way I can imagine Ian offering any kind of help to me." | |
Gough will be sentenced on 24 August. |