Chris Brown avoids jail as UK court hands him eight-month suspended sentence for hitting music producer with bottle

• Chris Brown has received an eight-month suspended sentence over a 2023 confrontation at a London nightclub.

• The singer pleaded guilty to affray after hitting music producer Abe Diaw with a bottle at Tape nightclub in Mayfair.

• His co-defendant, rapper Hoody Baby, also received a suspended sentence, with both men ordered to pay prosecution costs.

Chris Brown will not go to prison for now after a London court gave him an eight-month sentence, suspended for 12 months, over a confrontation at a nightclub in 2023.

Judge Tony Baumgartner passed the sentence at Southwark Crown Court on Monday. Brown, 37, pleaded guilty earlier this year to affray over the incident at the Tape private members' club in Mayfair, where he hit music producer Abe Diaw with a bottle.

His co-defendant, Omololu Akinlolu, who performs as Hoody Baby, was given four months, also suspended for 12 months.

In his sentencing remarks, the judge pointed to the seriousness of the offence, including "the repeated use of the bottle."

A suspended sentence means the time is not served unless the terms are broken. If Brown commits another offence within the next 12 months, he will be brought back before the court. The judge said the court will ordinarily be required to bring the sentence into operation, in full or in part, unless it would be unjust to do so.

He told both men to be in no doubt that "a suspended sentence order is a custodial sentence."

The judge also addressed the time Brown spent in custody after his arrest. Brown was held for about a week in May 2025 before being released on £5m bail. The judge said that time does not reduce the suspended sentence, but it will count automatically if the sentence is ever activated.

He said he had considered pre-sentence reports and, in light of the risk assessments and the men's personal circumstances, did not think additional requirements were necessary or proportionate.

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Each defendant was also ordered to pay £1,500 towards the prosecution's costs within one month, plus the statutory surcharge. The judge said the amount was proportionate and within each man's means.

Brown was arrested at a Manchester hotel in May 2025 and initially charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent, which carries up to 16 years. He pleaded not guilty at Southwark Crown Court in June 2025. Prosecutors had alleged that he struck Diaw several times with a bottle before punching and kicking him.

Both men's suspended sentences will run for 12 months.