Two men threatened to “kill” Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil and defile his mother as they threatened his security guards, a court has heard.
Salaman Ekinci and Ferhat Ercun deny behaving in a threatening or abusive manner outside the north London home of the Premier League club’s £350,000-per-week midfielder.
Security guard Kemil Sezer told Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday he and a colleague had been protecting the World Cup winner for several weeks after an unrelated attack on the midfielder.
Assisted by a Turkish interpreter, he told the court he first saw two men at around 7.30 pm on August 8 last year before they returned around three hours later when it was dark.
He said: “They swore in Turkish, saying ‘f*** your mothers, we’re going to f*** Mesut’s mother and we’re going to come back in five minutes and if security doesn’t go from here, we’re going to kill Mesut Ozil and kill you’.
“We started chasing them … we got angry because Mesut Ozil, about two to three weeks prior, was attacked and we feared that the same thing would happen.”
Asked by prosecutor Sarah Gabay how he felt, he said: “Stressed … Mesut Ozil is loved by the Turkish people.
“We have that responsibility on us to protect him.”
Ekinci and Ercun, both 27, and both of Tottenham, north London, appeared at the trial dressed smartly in dark suits and waistcoats for trial over the alleged incident.
Ms. Gabay said Ekinci and Ercun were detained by the guards after they returned for a third time after midnight before police were called.
She said: “In the interview, both defendants denied using the language and said they had been no conversation between them and said they had been attacked by the security guards.”
Ozil, 31, who won the 2014 World Cup with Germany, is of Turkish heritage.
He was not present at the hearing.
Ekinci and Ercun deny one count of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour to cause harassment, alarm or distress.
The trial, before district judge Alison Rose, continues.
