LONDON — Singer and rapper Chris Brown was ordered to remain in custody until his next court appearance in June during a U.K. court appearance Friday in connection with a 2023 nightclub incident.
Brown is charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent following an investigation by the Metropolitan Police of London. He faces a jail term of between two and 16 years if convicted.
He appeared at Manchester Magistrates' Court and his case will next be heard at Southwark Crown court in London on June 13 which has been the scene of various high-profile legal cases in recent years.
All criminal cases in England are first heard in a magistrates court, then more serious cases including alleged violent crime are sent to crown court.
He is scheduled to perform in Manchester on June 15 and 16 with dates after that in London, Cardiff, Glasgow and Dublin.
The charge stems from an alleged assault at a venue in Hanover Square on Feb. 19, 2023, police said.
Police had said earlier that a man was arrested at a hotel in Manchester, north-west England, shortly after 2 a.m. Thursday on suspicion of grievous bodily harm in connection with an incident on the same date in 2023, but did not name Brown.
NBC News has reached out to Brown's reps for comment.
Brown has a history of legal problems stretching back more than a decade.
In 2009, he was arrested for assaulting his ex-girlfriend singer Rihanna, and pleaded guilty to felony assault that same year. In January 2013 Brown allegedly got into an altercation with singer Frank Ocean in which he punched and threatened to shoot him, TMZ reported at the time.
In 2017, Brown's ex-girlfriend model Karrueche Tran was granted a five-year restraining order against him. In 2022, he was accused of drugging and raping a woman on a yacht in 2020 in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Court. That case was later dismissed for lack of prosecution after no one for either side showed up for a scheduled hearing, NBC Palm Springs reported.
