1990.11.10 - Melody Maker - Axl Arrested for Assault (Axl).

Transcript:

AXL ARRESTED FOR ASSAULT

W. AXL ROSE has been arrested for assaulting a woman neighbour with a deadly weapon - a bottle of wine. But the Guns N' Roses vocalist denies the charge. He says the woman is an "unstable and obsessive fan", and also claims to have been harassed by the local sheriffs' department.

Rose was arrested by West Hollywood police in the early hours of last Tuesday morning - October 30. He was released on $5,000 bail, pending his appearance in a Beverly Hills court later this month.

The polite arrived at Axi's flat in a high-rise condominium after a phone call from the neighbour, Gabriella Kantor. She accused him of hitting her with a bottle after she complained about loud music coming from his flat.

A spokesman for Rose said this week "This woman has repeatedly caused Axl problems. She is basically a fan who's been harassing him since the beginning of the year.

"After she abusively assaulted him the night of the incident, he requested the building's security officer call the police on his behalf. Despite the call for protection, the sheriffs did not arrive until after a call from his assailant. The neighbour was neither hit by Rose nor hospitalised, contrary to earlier news reports.

"The incident constitutes Rose's continuing dispute with the sheriffs' department which appears to be harassing him. An earlier complaint he filed against the department remains unresolved."

After his release on bail, Rose gave an interview to Pirate Radio in LA.

He said: "My wife and I recently had some hard times, and so she was asleep, and me and a friend of mine were sitting here, cos we're working on some songs together for the new album, and we were talking very quietly.

"My neighbour was in the hallway, drunk and yelling, trying to talk to one of my friends that she doesn't even know, and I went and told her to chill out. She came at me with a wine bottle she swung it at me, and I grabbed the bottle.

"I didn't hit her with it - if I had she wouldn't be walking, she wouldn't be alive.

"She threw her keys at me and I shut the door and threw her keys off the balcony and poured the wine out and threw it away. She proceeded to beat on my door for 20 minutes. I then called the sheriffs and they didn't give a f***.

"They she went downstairs and did a great acting job when the police showed up.

"She doesn't complain about my stereo to me. I don't know if she complained to other people or not. I have my suspicions about the problems I've had with the sheriffs being somewhat directly related to her.

"I had problems with the sheriffs when I had Sebastian Bach over here and we had the stereo up. Then she proceeded to play my album full blast every night for the next two weeks. She likes to have sex to my album and beat on my bedroom door. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but when I am the one busted for it, that's not what's good."