A lawyer sobbed as she was cleared of beating a bouncer over the head with her stiletto after a court found she was trying to protect herself and her boyfriend.
Vahideh Hojatoleslami, 28, left Oluwakemi Tayo with blood dripping down his face after striking him with her heel at a Halloween party last October 27.
But the solicitor said she struck the bouncer, at the Loft Studio in Willesden, London, over the head because he had her boyfriend in a headlock and she was terrified.
Vahideh Hojatoleslami, 28, right, was cleared of assaulting bouncer Oluwakemi Tayo over the head after he had her boyfriend Nima Masoor, left, in a headlock
She told the court Mr Tayo was acting like a thug before he grabbed hold of her partner, Bentley technician Nima Masoor.
After the not guilty verdict, the solicitor sobbed from the dock as her family rushed to hug her.
She told Westminster Magistrates’ Court she was ‘surrounded’ by security staff and felt frightened.
She said: ‘I didn’t at any point think I was a threat to them, I don’t think they could say that they were scared.
The solicitor sobbed after the not guilty verdict after she told Westminster Magistrates’ Court she was ‘surrounded’ by security staff and felt frightened
‘The aggression they used, it felt like a sudden attack – I didn’t have time to think about what I’d do next.’
She continued: ‘I just acted instinctively. I wasn’t just going to let them do that to him. I remember seeing a lock around his neck.
‘I felt like we were dealing with a street fight. I don’t remember having the intention of hitting him over the head with the shoe.’
Asked if she had hit the bouncer, Hojatoleslami replied: ‘I clearly did. I didn’t mean to hurt him.
‘We were attacked and I felt scared by what was happening.
‘I didn’t think – ‘I’ve got my shoes in my hand, I’m going to hit him’, it’s really unfortunate that my shoe was in my hand.’
The solicitor explained she was holding her shoes because she’d taken them off as her feet were aching.
She added: ‘I’m not holding it like a weapon, I never intended to use it like a weapon, it was just in my hand.’
She said she struck the bouncer at the Loft Studio in Willesden, London, pictured, as the scene escalated outside the door of the night club
Jo Sidhu, defending, said: Mr Tayo had ’embellished’ his story by exaggerating what had happened.
He said: ‘You’re left with a picture of a man who claims he has been assaulted when he is the true aggressor.
‘We’re dealing with a woman who has reacted – it’s clear that she felt a sense of responsibility towards her partner, to protect her partner and to protect herself.
She said she ‘didn’t mean to hurt’ the bouncer and her shoes were in her hand because she’d taken them off as her feet were sore
He added: ‘She felt threatened and so reacted and she used the only thing she had in her hand – and that was a stiletto shoe.
‘Given her professional occupation, one can only imagine how important it is for her to tell the truth.’
Bench Chair Jane Smith said that the ‘key incident was the sudden escalation of activity’ at the door of the night club.
She said: ‘We found the defendant’s evidence credible. We believed the defendant was getting scared.
‘We find her raising her hand and hitting out was instinctive, she is a small woman of 5ft 2 inches and she was surrounded by a group of men.
‘It is under what triggered that escalation but we find that the action was in self-defence.’
Addressing the magistrates, Mr Sidhu added that she is in the ‘early stages of her career’ and this could have meant it would have came to a ‘shuddering halt’.
Hojatoleslami, of Silverworks Close, Edgware, was cleared of assault by beating.
She qualified for the legal profession in May 2018 and has worked for Axiom Stone Solicitors since March this year.