Bellamy in court over nightclub clash

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Liverpool striker Craig Bellamy grabbed a woman by her throat during a row in a nightclub, a court has been told. Bellamy, 27, was appearing before Cardiff magistrates on two charges of common assault following the incident at the Welsh capital city's Number 10 nightclub on February 5 this year. It was alleged that the Wales international had an angry exchange with Sophie Palmer, 19, after bumping into her on the way down a narrow corridor that led to the VIP area of the club. Palmer claims she was verbally abused by Bellamy after colliding with the former Newcastle star, who then started to argue with her friend Holly Smith. Bellamy chased Palmer down the corridor and pushed her against a wall by her throat before the player's minder Franklin Lynch intervened. Palmer said Lynch, who denies common assault, shoved her to the entrance of the club and also held her by the bottom of her neck. "I began to walk through the gap and Craig Bellamy was walking in the other direction and he bumped into me. He was quite aggressive, he was just swaggering around," Palmer told the court Thursday. "I turned around and said to him 'excuse me why couldn't you wait in that gap there.' "He grabbed me with both hands around the neck and held me up against the wall and he was squeezing. I pointed him out to the bouncer and said 'that's the guy who just strangled me'." Palmer claimed she suffered arm and neck bruising and, as a result of the incident, scarring on her chest from recent surgery started to bleed. Bellamy claimed he was provoked by Palmer, who he said slapped him, and he made a counter complaint to the police. The trial continues.