Ryan Giggs’ ex-girlfriend's sister said she was “left in shock” after the former Manchester United star allegedly assaulted her with his elbow before, she claims, then threatening "I'll headbutt you next."
Emma Greville is the younger sister of the former Manchester United star's former partner Kate and said that Britain’s most decorated football player had elbowed her in the face in a “get off me manner” after he and Kate Greville had made “physical contact” over a row involving a phone that ended with Kate Greville “on the ground screaming and covering her face” having being allegedly headbutted.
Giggs, 48, is accused of assaulting his ex-partner Kate, 38, and her younger sister on November 1, 2020, with a further charge relating to controlling and coercive behaviour towards Kate Greville between 2017 and November 2020.
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He denies all charges.
Emma Greville told the court that she was in Giggs' house to look after their dog while the couple went for dinner at Manchester's Stock Exchange Hotel on the night in question.
But Kate Greville, who last week claimed she had recently learned Giggs was having affairs with eight other women after looking through his iPad, had returned to the house with the intention of packing up her things and leaving Giggs’ home, which she had moved into in March of 2020 during the first Covid-19 lockdown.
Giggs arrived back approximately 15 to 20 minutes later. The court last week heard that the couple had an argument while out. Emma Greville said that both were visibly drunk when they had returned; she had not been drinking.
Emma Greville said under questioning from prosecuting barrister Peter Wright QC that Giggs told them in a "snide manner that he had the power to keep the dog when he knew it was Kate's" and then told the sisters "we needed to leave" his house.
While the couple argued, Emma Greville said that she went into another room to check if the dog was OK but could hear "shouting and arguing and scuffling around."
She then went to check and noticed "Ryan's legs sticking out into the hallway" with her sister "lying on her back with Ryan on top of her."
Giggs, Emma Greville said, was trying to get Kate Greville's phone from her.
"His face was in line with her face," she told the court. "From her facial expressions I could tell she was in pain. Kate said to me: 'Get him off me.' I put both arms around his waist. As Kate was using her legs to push him off, I was pulling.
"He turned to his right and his elbow touched my jaw. I then, as a result, let go."
Asked to describe the severity of the contact, Emma Greville claimed: "It was not a gentle manner but a 'get off me' manner."
Emma Greville told the court she called her parents for advice and when asked to clarify the contact between Giggs and her she said his elbow touched her jaw with a "force that made me remove my hands from around him." After the alleged assault Giggs told Emma Greville he was "disappointed in me."
A taxi was called for but it subsequently left because Kate Greville would not leave without her phone and Giggs, the court heard, had it in his pocket.
The former couple then argued over the phone and Emma Greville told the court that Giggs had “gone from annoyed to extremely angry.” He then “put both hands on Kate's shoulders and, with lots of force, used his head to headbutt her in the lip.
"Afterwards he told me it was my fault he had headbutted Kate and turned to me and said 'I'll headbutt you next.'"
The trial's second week began with Elsa Roodt, a business associate of Kate Greville, appearing via video link from Dubai. Ms Roodt had employed Ms Greville at her public relations consultancy and told the court that the company had to block Giggs' emails to his ex-girlfriend's business account because they were "very tense" and "it was interfering with her work so we had no option but to block his emails."
Ms Roodt, who said she had met Giggs "maybe three times", also described noticing bruises on Ms Greville's arm. When she asked how they happened, Ms Greville said the marks were a result of "rough sex."
Kate Greville last week told the court she "was embarrassed and I didn’t want to admit" that Giggs had allegedly dragged her naked out of a hotel room following an argument so had said the bruises were caused by "rough sex."
She had also later sent a message to Giggs saying: “My sex bruise is coming out nice too.”
The trial continues.
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