Highlights
- Chris Brown, 37, was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court to eight months in prison, suspended for 12 months, for his part in an attack at the Tape nightclub in Mayfair in February 2023
- Judge Tony Baumgartner said the repeated use of a glass bottle aimed at the head was "plainly dangerous", but that it was not planned violence
- Brown's co-defendant, Omololu Akinlolu, was given a four-month sentence, suspended for 12 months
- Both men pleaded guilty to affray in July, and the sentencing fell on the day their trial had been due to begin
Chris Brown has avoided prison for hitting a music producer with a tequila bottle in a London nightclub, after a judge accepted that the attack was brief, unplanned and unlikely to be repeated.
Brown arrived at Southwark Crown Court on Monday wearing a facemask and sunglasses, and signed autographs for fans as he left. The attack on Abraham "Abe" Diaw, a former friend, took place on 19 February 2023, during Brown's last UK tour.
What sentence did Chris Brown receive?
Brown was given eight months in prison, suspended for 12 months. That means he will not be imprisoned unless he commits another offence during that period. His co-defendant and vocal coach, the American rapper Omololu Akinlolu, who performs as "Hoody Baby", received four months, also suspended for 12 months. Affray carries a maximum sentence of three years.
What happened at Tape nightclub in February 2023?
The court was shown three pieces of CCTV footage from inside the private members' club in Hanover Square. The attack lasted no more than 20 seconds, the judge said, but the footage shows Brown striking Diaw four times with the bottle: twice on the head, and then on the shoulder. Other people pulled him away.
The Crown Prosecution Service said after the guilty pleas that Brown approached Diaw on the dance floor and hit him over the head with a glass bottle twice, before Akinlolu punched Diaw in the head. The assault carried on as Diaw tried to flee through the club, it said. The court heard he needed hospital treatment.
What did the judge say?
"The repeated use of a glass bottle in that way, especially aimed at the head, was plainly dangerous," Judge Baumgartner said. It carried the risk of a more serious injury than Diaw sustained, he added.
But the judge also said: "This was not planned violence. It was nevertheless serious violence by two people in a crowded nightclub." He said he had taken into account Brown's guilty plea, his compliance with bail conditions, the effect a prison term would have on his children, and his steady work and charity efforts. Brown's "risk of further offending is low", the judge said.
US singer Chris Brown arrives at Southwark Crown Court in London on July 24, 2026. Getty Images
What did Brown's defence say?
Sallie Bennett-Jenkins KC, for Brown, described him as "a dedicated and a loving father of four children". She called what happened at Tape a "short and deeply regretted incident". "This is an ugly and unattractive incident," she told the court.
How did the case unfold?
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| 19 February 2023 | Diaw is attacked at the Tape nightclub in Mayfair |
| October 2023 | Diaw files a civil lawsuit in Los Angeles against Brown, Akinlolu and others |
| 15 May 2025 | Brown, back in the UK for the first time since the incident, is arrested at the Lowry Hotel in Manchester and charged with grievous bodily harm with intent |
| 21 May 2025 | Brown is released on £5m bail, allowing his world tour to continue, on conditions including no contact with Diaw |
| June and July 2025 | Brown pleads not guilty to the GBH charge, and then to assault causing actual bodily harm and possessing an offensive weapon |
| July 2026 | Brown and Akinlolu plead guilty to affray |
| 26 October 2026 | Sentencing, on the day the trial had been due to start |
Prosecutors dropped the other charges in exchange for the guilty pleas, including assault and possession of an offensive weapon. Eastern Eye reported Brown's arrest in Manchester in May 2025, and his joke about his time in custody when he took the stage in Manchester a month later.
What happens next in Diaw's civil lawsuit?
Monday's sentencing does not settle it. Diaw sued Brown in Los Angeles in October 2023, alleging "severe and lasting injuries" including head lacerations and torn ligaments in his leg. The suit, reported to seek $16m (about £12m), also names Akinlolu, Live Nation and the record labels RCA and Sony. None of the reports reviewed gives the current state of that case.
Chris Brown performs at Nissan Stadium on July 25, 2026 in Nashville, Tennessee. Getty Images
Who is Chris Brown?
Brown, a Grammy-winning singer born in Virginia, rose to fame as a teenager with his 2005 single "Run It!". CBS News reports that he has previous convictions in the US, including a 2009 felony assault conviction over his attack on Rihanna, and a 2014 guilty plea for hitting a man outside a Washington DC hotel.
