Gabrielle Carrington, 29, a former X Factor finalist and influencer, has appeared in court accused of attempting to murder another content creator, Klaudia Zakrzewska, after the pair got into a heated argument.
Carrington’s car ploughed into Zakrzewska (who posts under @klaudiagram) outside of Inca, a club in Soho, at around 4:30am on Sunday. Zakrzewska is currently in hospital in what has been described as a ‘life-threatening’ condition, according to The Mirror – however, many have left messages of condolence underneath her Instagram post, with one user falsely claiming Zakrzewska’s best friend had confirmed her passing.
A security guard, Anoush Chyche, in his fifties, and another woman, Latisha Armstrong, in her thirties were also injured at the scene. Chyche’s injuries are said to be “life-changing”.
Following her appearance at Westminster Magistrates Court, Carrington was held in custody, having been charged with attempted murder, grievous bodily harm with intent, actual bodily harm, dangerous driving and drink driving.
The attempted murder charge is in connection to Zakrzewska, with the GBH and ABH charges relating to injuries allegedly sustained by Chyche and Armstrong, respectively.
Appearing in the dock, Carrington made a heart sign and confirmed her basic details, but was not asked to plead either guilty or not guilty.
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Prosecutor Rizwan Amin said in court: "There has been an ongoing dispute between parties and they are known to each other. In the early hours of Sunday morning, the ambulance service and police were called to Argyll Street to reports of a female run over.
“Scenes were described as lots of people shouting and described as a melee so to speak. Many of the individuals who were there were from a nearby nightclub, including security staff members. Further checks of CCTV showed Ms Carrington had arrived in Argyll Street in her car, which is nearby the Inca nightclub.”
Amin continued on to say, “During this time, she seemed to have an altercation with a male as she exited her car. This altercation had escalated involving several other members of the public and security tried to intervene. Ms Carrington was then seen to re-enter the vehicle on CCTV, which shows her immediately moving off and sharply mounting the pavement.
“During this manoevre the vehicle had struck Ms Klaudia Zakrzewska who was positioned at the front side of the vehicle and was dragged forward and dropped between the vehicle and a metal bike rack. The vehicle continued moving forward. It took her fully underneath the vehicle and at the same time struck a security member of staff, Anoush Chyche, who was on the pavement.”
He urged that Carrington not be released on bail as she often visits the United Arab Emirates and suggested she could not be trusted to remain in the UK or appear in court when required.
Carrington posts under the handle @rielleUK and has over 366,000 followers on Instagram. She appeared on The X Factor in 2013 as part of a girl group, Miss Dynamix.
Jennifer Savin is Cosmopolitan UK's multiple award-winning Features Editor, who was crowned Digital Journalist of the Year for her work tackling the issues most important to young women. She regularly covers breaking news, cultural trends, health, the royals and more, using her esteemed connections to access the best experts along the way. She's grilled everyone from high-profile politicians to A-list celebrities, and has sensitively interviewed hundreds of people about their real life stories. In addition to this, Jennifer is widely known for her own undercover investigations and campaign work, which includes successfully petitioning the government for change around topics like abortion rights and image-based sexual abuse. Jennifer is also a published author, documentary consultant (helping to create BBC’s Deepfake Porn: Could You Be Next?) and a patron for Y.E.S. (a youth services charity). Alongside Cosmopolitan, Jennifer has written for The Times, Women’s Health, ELLE and numerous other publications, appeared on podcasts, and spoken on (and hosted) panels for the Women of the World Festival, the University of Manchester and more. In her spare time, Jennifer is a big fan of lipstick, leopard print and over-ordering at dinner. Follow Jennifer on Instagram, X or LinkedIn.
