Boxing champ’s son convicted of assaulting father’s girlfriend (From Watford Observer)

Boxing champ’s son, Cassius Abrahams, convicted of assaulting father’s girlfriend in row over violence rumours

9:10am Friday 27th July 2012 in News By Ben Endley, Senior reporter

The son of a former champion boxer has been convicted of assaulting his father’s partner after accusing her of spreading rumours he was violent towards women.

Cassius Abrahams, 24, denied grabbing and holding Rudoulla Panayi’s wrist, causing her bruising, as she tried to prevent him taking away her car keys.

Since 2006 Miss Panayi, 38, has been in a relationship with Cassius’s father Ojay Abrahams, who won the English Masters light-middleweight title in 2001, and the pair have a two-year-old child together.

The confrontation happened at around 10pm on April 1 after Abrahams spotted the victim outside Tesco in Abbots Langley and drove off with him in pursuit.

She told St Albans Magistrates’ Court she feared for her and her baby’s safety when he overtook and blocked her car at the junction of Horseshoe Lane and High Road.

She said: "I panicked and got scared because I didn’t know what was going on when he pulled in front of me I had to stop my car.

"I could not see who it was at that point, then when he came out of the car I could see it was Cassius Abrahams.

"I opened my car door to warn him I have got my baby in the car. He looked angry. He looked like he wanted trouble.

"He shouted at me ‘if you go round telling people I hit women I will show you how it’s done for real’.

"It was like he had hate pouring off him."

Describing the escalation of the confrontation she said: "He was going for my keys, I put my hands on the keys so he wouldn’t take them.

"He grabbed my hand and pulled the keys away then left."

Magistrate Ivan Levene was shown images of bruising to the victim’s right wrist.

Abrahams, a personal trainer who recently appeared on TV dating show The Love Machine alongside hosts Chris Moyles and Stacey Soloman, accepted that he had followed her and taken her keys through the car window but denied he had laid a hand on her.

He said: "I wanted to confront her on something that provoked me.

"She had been accusing me of beating up women, that is for me something that is bad in my eyes.

"She turned around to grab her phone and I took her car keys, I took them because I was emotional, I had been provoked and I made a snap judgement, it was stupid.

"I returned to the scene after speaking to my sister, she made me realise I had done something stupid so I drove back."

Abrahams threw the keys on the ground near Miss Panayi and left in his Lexus 200 Sport.

Mr Levene said: "We found Miss Panayi gave clear credible accounts however we found that you had lapsed memories and gave contradicting evidence.

"We are satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that you are guilty."

Since the incident Abrahams, whose address was listed in court papers as Horseshoe Lane, Watford, has moved to Frimley, Surrey.

He will be sentenced at St Albans Magistrates’ Court on August 6.