In short:
The policeman allegedly racially harassed by Sam Kerr has denied making up the impact of her words to secure a criminal charge.
Under cross-examination, Police Constable Stephen Lovell said he addressed the affects of being called "stupid and white" in a second statement submitted nearly 11 months after the incident took place.
What's next?
Sam Kerr is expected to give evidence when the trial resumes on Wednesday, local time.
The British police officer who alleges Australian soccer star Sam Kerr racially harassed him has told a London court he didn't make up the impact of being called "f***king stupid and white" to secure a criminal charge.
Under cross-examination, Police Constable (PC) Stephen Lovell agreed however that he was "determined" to pursue the case through the criminal courts.
Kingston-on-Thames Crown Court in London also heard the full, voluntary interview Ms Kerr gave to police after the incident, in which she said she felt "threatened" for her life in the taxi and apologised to the officers involved for her actions.
Ms Kerr is charged with one count of racially aggravated harassment after calling PC Lovell "f***ing stupid and white" amid a dispute over the taxi ride in January, 2023.
The 31-year-old pleaded not guilty to the charge last year.
She is Australia's all-time leading goal scorer and plays for Chelsea in the UK's Women's Super League.
Court told about second police statement
The jury was told that PC Lovell's first statement made no mention of how Ms Kerr calling him "stupid and white" made him feel.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) received that statement and in July 2023, declined to charge Ms Kerr, stating the threshold of harassment, alarm or distress hadn't been met.
An appeal was lodged by Metropolitan Police about that decision. Police were later told that PC Lovell would receive an apology.
The CPS then wrote back to PC Ryan Skinner, officer in charge of the investigation, requesting any further statements of evidence of harassment, alarm or distress.
On December 5, 2023, PC Lovell submitted a second witness statement, detailing how he felt after being called "stupid and white", nearly 11 months after the alleged incident took place.
In that statement he said being called "stupid and white" made him feel "shocked, upset and leaving me feel humiliated" adding, "they were too far and I took great offence to them".
The CPS then authorised police to charge Ms Kerr on December 12, 2023.
Under cross-examination, Grace Forbes, for Ms Kerr, said the second statement was a deliberate attempt to secure a charge.
"The only reason I suggest, PC Lovell, that you made that statement was because the Crown Prosecution Service had declined to authorise a criminal charge to prosecute Ms Kerr," Ms Forbes said.
"No," PC Lovell told the court.
Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC asked PC Lovell how common it was for the CPS to request more evidence. He said it was common but couldn't say how regularly requests were made.
Ms Forbes questioned whether Ms Kerr, captain of Australia's national soccer team the Matildas, was "on his radar" in August 2023, given the significant media interest in the Women's World Cup being played at the time.
It coincided with the CPS appeals process.
Metropolitan Police Constable Stephen Lovell was cross-examined for more than an hour. (Priscilla Coleman/MB Media)
"You were determined to pursue that person weren't you?" Ms Forbes said.
"Yes," he said.
"Through the criminal court," Ms Forbes asked.
"Yes," he said.
"The CPS identified there was no evidence of harassment, alarm or distress caused, and you knew that was the obstacle," Ms Forbes said.
"No," he replied.
"I am going to suggest that you are claiming to have experienced this impact purely to get a criminal charge across the line," she said.
"No," he said.
"I didn't make something up to get it over the line," he later told the jury.
On Monday, he said her words made him feel "upset".
'Calm … young missy'
Ms Kerr's defence team cross-examined PC Lovell about his handling of the situation on the night of the incident at Twickenham police station, part of which was recorded in a 30-minute-long body-cam video played in court on day one of the trial.
Ms Forbes described the episode as "a long and exhausting argument", while PC Lovell described it as "a discussion" about the cab ride and damage to the car window.
It's alleged one of the passengers, Ms Kerr or her partner, Kristie Mewis, had vomited in the back of the cab and refused to pay the fare.
Questioning in court centered around the body-cam vision that was captured by officers inside Twickenham police station in south-west London. (ABC News: Daniel Pannet)
The taxi driver then drove to Twickenham police station after calling police and being instructed by them to do so.
"Ms Kerr may have interrupted you and it's fair and right to say you also interrupted them didn't you?" Ms Forbes asked about the 30-minute police body-cam video.
"Yes, I was trying to get my point across," PC Lovell told the court.
"Would it be fair to say the exchange became somewhat childish?"
"Frustrating, yes," he replied.
"At one point it was said to you, 'You're all, like, irrelevant.'" And you bite back "so are you" — do you recall that?" Ms Forbes asked.
"Yes," he said.
"At another point you tell her [Ms Kerr] 'to calm herself young missy,'"
"Yes," he said.
Claims against cab driver not formally investigated
Both Ms Kerr and Ms Mewis alleged to PC Lovell that the taxi driver had held them "hostage" while driving erratically.
Those allegations were not formally investigated by police.
PC Lovell told the court he never spoke to the driver in person. Instead, he heard the driver's version of events through his colleague, PC Lim, who had spoken to him directly.
In the body-cam video, PC Lovell told both Ms Kerr and Ms Mewis that what they told him didn't amount to a criminal offence.
Sam Kerr listened attentively to the evidence presented in cross-examination throughout the day. (Priscilla Coleman/MB Media)
"These two women are civilians … it's not for them to tell you what offence might have occurred," Ms Forbes said.
"They might not have known the terminology, but they were making allegations of criminal offences.
"Yes," PC Lovell said.
"Serious criminal offences."
"Yes," he said.
"And you also know as a police officer that if a person broke a window to escape a dangerous situation that might amount to the defence of a criminal charge," she added.
"Yes," he said.
In the body-cam vision, PC Lovell was asked by another officer whether it was "just the women [that are] going to be arrested, or whether the driver would be to?"
"He's not getting nicked," PC Lovell replied.
Police hung-up on Kerr
Both women also insist repeatedly that they called the police from the back of the taxi, but were hung up on.
"They [the police] wouldn't do that though, they wouldn't do that," PC Lovell tells both Ms Kerr and Ms Mewis.
During the interaction, PC Lovell said he had checked and there was no record of their call to police.
Grace Forbes told the court on Tuesday that call-logs showed they had in fact contacted police and had been hung-up on.
She asked PC Lovell if he was aware of that then, or had subsequently been made aware of it. He said he wasn't aware and hadn't taken part in the subsequent investigation.
"The reality is, PC Lovell, that you made up your mind very early that you didn't believe what Ms Kerr was saying to you," Ms Forbes said.
He agreed, saying he had made "an informed decision" from the accounts he had heard.
"You made an assumption about Ms Kerr," Ms Forbes said.
"No," he replied.
"That she was a troublemaker."
"No."
"That she was difficult."
"No," he said.
No interviews or statements were taken from either Ms Kerr or Ms Mewis about their allegations against the driver.
PC Lovell said it wasn't best practise to formally interview people or take witness statements while they were inebriated.
The court heard the cab driver was never formally interviewed by police, or gave any on-record statement about the incident.
The last dealing police had with the driver was on January 30, 2023, when they helped facilitate the payment of 900 pounds ($1,796) from Ms Kerr to him for the damage to his cab, the trial heard.
Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC told the court police didn't request copies of the phone calls made by the driver or by Ms Kerr to police on the night of the incident.
He said officers didn't check mobile phone records of the driver to try and geolocate his movements, or request copies of number plate data collected by cameras in London to track the vehicle.
Police did ask the taxi driver if his taxi had an internal camera, to which he said it didn't, but officers never physically checked the car for one.
Sam Kerr is captain of the Australian national women's soccer team, the Matildas. (Getty Images: Daniela Porcelli)
PC Lovell said he saw Ms Kerr for the first time that night as she climbed out the broken window of the cab near Twickenham police station.
When questioned if he recalled the cuts on her hands from the broken glass, he said he didn't.
It was also confirmed that despite the pair arriving at the police station at 2:20am, PC Lovell didn't turn his body camera on until 3:15am, two minutes before he arrested Ms Kerr on racially aggravated harassment charges.
He said he turned the camera on then "because of what was being said and their demeanour".
His colleague, PC Shane Scott, who's 30-minute body cam vision has been presented as evidence, turned his camera on at 2:42am, shortly after the pair and the taxi arrived at Twickenham police station.
In a statement from PC Scott read by Mr Emlyn Jones, he said that he heard Ms Kerr make multiple references to skin colour to the three officers, including "white privilege", "white men" and "you guys are stupid and white".
"However, I did not take offence to the comments made," he said in the statement.
Sam Kerr apologises in police interview
The court also heard the 14-minute voluntary police interview given by Ms Kerr to police late on the evening of January 30, 2023.
In that interview with PC Ryan Skinner, she admitted to vomiting out of the window of the cab but denied not wanting to pay for the clean-up bill.
She said the driver never made them aware that police had directed him to drive to the nearest police station.
Metropolitan Police Constable Ryan Skinner led the investigation into the incident involving Sam Kerr and was cross-examined in court. (Priscilla Coleman/MB Media)
Once they arrived at the police station, she said she became increasingly frustrated.
"I didn't feel we were being heard and it was very, very threatening, I have never been in a situation like that where a taxi driver has locked the door and drove two females around for 15-20 minutes without letting us go and that's why I felt so angry and upset," she said.
"We spoke to three officers and honestly didn't feel very helped and I think that's what ignited the fear is because we were both very scared, very upset and we didn't feel like we were, I guess, believed on arrival and were being kind of, being … like not forced … but told just to pay just to pay, and I guess we just wanted more reasoning.
"Also the fact that we only spoke to three males the whole time, even though we had just come from being with a dangerous male, was very, I guess, confronting."
In that interview, she was asked if she recalled saying to the officers, including PC Lovell, "you guys are f***ing stupid and white".
"I definitely do not recall saying that," she said.
"Would you perceive these comments as racist?" PC Skinner asked.
"No because I wasn't … I don't recall saying that, so no," she replied.
She was then shown the same body camera footage played in court.
"Are you aware they could be perceived as racist?" PC Skinner asked.
"I'm aware that anything could be perceived as racist for sure," she replied.
"I was obviously intoxicated and I like shouldn't have been so front-footed but I was very, very threatened with how I felt … I can honestly say I didn't feel protected in that moment as a female and like I'm obviously here, voluntarily, because I want to sort this out but I just think that like in that moment I felt very, very, very threatened for one, how I was being treated, and two, my life in that cab."
Sam Kerr gave a voluntary interview at Kingston Police Station London on the evening after the incident. (Supplied)
PC Skinner asked Ms Kerr if there was anything she would say to PC Lovell if she had the chance.
"Just sorry," she said.
"I understand he's doing his job and he didn't really know where we had come from, so I think it's just I apologise for putting them in a situation where they had to stay there for so long and deal with two very angry girls [and a situation] that probably wasn't going to get solved in that moment.
"Wish I had've just gone home … hindsight is a beautiful thing."
She was made aware of her right to legal representation but elected not to have any for the interview.
Ms Kerr is expected to give evidence in court when the trial resumes tomorrow.
Matilda's captaincy not guaranteed for Kerr
Ms Kerr remains the captain of the Matildas, but when asked about her position as captain, Australian interim coach Tom Sermanni declined to answer whether she would lead the team again.
"It's difficult for me to answer that to be perfectly honest," Mr Sermanni said on Tuesday.
"Obviously with the court case that's going on at the moment, it would be unwise of me to sort of comment on that and comment on the outcome, whatever the outcome might be.
"So I think it's a case of waiting to see what happens and then move on from there."
He made it clear he wanted the talismanic striker back in his squad once she had recovered from an anterior cruciate ligament injury, that has sidelined her for more than a year.
"She's in the process of coming back, but I would still suggest, from an injury perspective, it will probably be sometime in March before she's back on the field."
She has missed more than a year of soccer for Australia and Chelsea Football Club in the UK Women's Super League.
