Amy Winehouse took the stand in her defense today during her assault trial in London. Last year she punched a dancer, Sherene Flash, who’d asked to take a photo with her at the Berkeley Square charity summer ball. During her testimony, Amy essentially claimed that Flash was all up in her grill. But she put it the British way, noting, “‘She lent down all over me. She had her face down by me.’” Nothing she said sounded all that convincing or explained why she reacted with a punch – which she essentially denied was even a punch.

By the same measure, said Winehouse, Flash “was pretty much leaning on me. She’s a big girl. She was being overly presumptuous. I’m not Mickey Mouse. I’m a human being.”… In the dressing room area backstage, the singer, 25, said that as she moved her left hand across her face, she pushed her right hand upwards, towards Flash. “She’s there, she’s tall. I wanted her away from me,” she told the court. “I thought: ‘Do I get a choice in this? Hello?’ People are mad, people are rude.”

As if to emphasize the height differences, the 5′, 2½” Winehouse moved away from the evidence box and showed chief Magistrate Timothy Workman her flat pink ballet pumps. “And my hair does make a difference,” the often-beehived singer added.

Earlier, prosecuting lawyer Lyall Thompson told the court that there was “nothing accidental about Miss Winehouse’s actions. It may be that well-known figures find such requests tiresome, but they need to develop strategies” to deal with them. “She acted with deliberate and unjustifiable violence,” he said of Winehouse allegedly landing a “direct blow” to Flash’s face with her right hand.

Flash called the cops and later saw a doctor. She said she was left with a “slightly swollen” right eye after the incident. Flash told the court that she had been dancing at the event and then, later, went backstage with a friend to see if they could meet the Grammy-winner.

She said that she had not touched Winehouse. Asked by Winehouse’s lawyer Patrick Gibbs if she had “misread” the situation, Flash answered, “Even if I did, it doesn’t give someone the right to punch me in the face.”

Flash, who admitted she was “tipsy,” described Winehouse as seeming “drunk.” Other witnesses concurred, with Jack Jefferson saying of her performance earlier: “Her speech was slurred and she didn’t appear to be in control of her physical actions.”

[From People]

So Amy’s defense is essentially that she didn’t punch Sherene Flash but that she used her right hand to push her away. She also seems to be arguing that as a much smaller person, she felt physically intimidated by the way Flash was so close to her. The problem is that other witnesses saw Amy punch Sherene Flash. She also headbutted a photographer at the same event. And not a paparazzo – an official photographer for the fancy ball. She was also described as extremely inebriated – no eyebrow raising here.

It seems likely that Amy perhaps intended merely to push away Sherene Flash and may have felt that’s what she was doing. But most likely she was drunk and clumsy, and really did punch her. Nonetheless, it seems unlikely she’ll do any serious time (the max would be six months). I’m guessing she probably will be found guilty, but be given some kind of nominal probation. And to her credit – Amy hasn’t physically assaulted anyone in months.

Here’s Amy at Westminster Magistrates Court today. Images thanks to Fame Pictures .

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