The 999 call made by the sister of Ryan Giggs’ ex-girlfriend following an alleged assault is a “microcosm of the entire case”, a jury has been told.
The former Manchester United star, 48, denies controlling behaviour, as well as assaulting Kate Greville, 38, in November 2020.
He also denies assaulting her younger sister Emma, 26.
The jury was reminded of the call, with Mr Giggs in the background saying she caused the incident.
In his closing speech for the prosecution, Peter Wright QC said the call was made within moments of the incident having taken place.
“What a remark, said Mr Wright. ” Not, it was an accident, I didn’t mean it.”
He went on to say that this is a case about what Ryan Giggs is not known for, “what lies beneath the surface of…his character.”
“It’s about the abuse of power,” Mr Wright told the jury at Manchester Crown Court on the 11th day of the trial.
Speaking out for Kate Greville had been “cathartic”, he said, and he asked the jury to consider how she responded when various matters were put to her, irrespective of the “deeply embarrassing” material she was being asked to consider.
The barrister asked them, was this a woman who was “scheming” or a woman who was “now empowered” and able to “speak out?”
Mr Wright went on to ask the jury to consider why Mr Giggs did not have answers to so many questions. The answer, he said, was that he had “no sensible explanation to give.”
“The truth was so damaging and so telling…that the “only alternative” was of “not giving an explanation.”
Mr Wright said that Mr Giggs was the “living embodiment” of the contradictions in the case, from “hate-filled outburst of bile” to the very same woman he had, “sometimes only moments earlier” professed to “love in perpetuity.”
Reminding the jury about emails in which he calls Ms Greville by a deeply unpleasant name, Mr Wright said this is what Mr Giggs, a “polite paragon of public behaviour” was capable of.
“Even now he can’t explain why he sent it,” he said, because, to do so would “reveal the coercive and controlling nature of his conduct.”
Mr Wright then invited the jury to “compare and contrast” the “calm and cooperative Ryan Giggs” on dealing with the police at his house on 1 November 2020 with what they heard in the 999 call.
Earlier, Judge Hilary Manley told the jury they had to decide the case on the evidence and that they must decide “whether a witness was a truthful witness”. If there were “inaccuracies” they must consider if they matter “in the overall context of the case”, she said.
Judge Manley went on to say that both Kate Greville and former Wales manager Mr Giggs became distressed while giving their evidence., but she said they must “..put aside any sympathy”.
She reminded them that she told them at the start of the case that they must put aside any emotion, and she said they must “continue that way.”
The trial continues.
