UK Edition
Credit Suisse banker spat in wife's face after finding out about her sex games
When banker Marc Grosjean discovered details of sex games scribbled on hotel notepaper in his wife’s handbag he assumed the worst.
Artemis "Mitzi" Berberi initially managed to calm him down by claiming the note describing sex acts was merely a silly game she had played with a girl friend.
But Gosjean could not rid himself of the suspicion that his wife of three years had cheated on him.
He checked her car’s Sat Nav and found it had been programmed to direct her to the same hotel named on the paper he found in her bag.
The discovery culminated in a furious row in which the 43-year-old banker spat in Ms Berberi’s face.
Grosjean, a former director at Credit Suisse and Anoa Capital, who was convicted by magistrates of both spitting and punching his wife in October, had his conviction for common assault upheld yesterday.
He was however cleared of striking Ms Berberi, head of legal affairs for Fox International Channels, after inconsistencies were found in her account.
Grosjean found the incriminating note after he rummaged through her bag late at night after returning from a business trip to Abu Dhabi, on November 30 last year.
When he later confronted Ms Berberi about it she claimed to have invented the sex game with a female friend long ago and denied she was having an affair.
That evening the couple met in the Crown & Sceptre pub near their home in Kensington to discuss their relationship, before Ms Berberi went out for dinner with the same female friend.
Ms Berberi - who claimed in court that Grosjean was threatening to expose the affair, which she was still denying, to her work colleagues - said that when she got home she found him "in a rage".
An argument flared and Grosjean spat in his wife's face when she told him to "f--k off".
The court heard that after spending the night on the sofa, Grosjean went up to the marital bedroom to “get the truth”.
The pair grappled with a computer and during the struggle Ms Berberi suffered bruising to her arms, an injury to her thumb and a bump to her face.
The court heard that Ms Berberi called her mother and then a friend repeatedly saying "he is hitting me".
She claimed Grosjean chased her around the house before cornering her and punched her in the face in front of their young son. Ms Berberi also claimed he tried to tear her wedding ring from her finger.
Grosjean admitted to spitting in her face, wrestling with her for the computer but denied trying to strangle or punching her.
After considering the case with two magistrates Judge Joanna Korner QC noted that there were inconsistencies between the account given by Ms Berberi when the assault happened and what she later gave as evidence in court.
In particular an injury appeared on Ms Berberi that had not appeared in photographs taken on the day of the incident and that had not been mentioned by any witnesses.
However the court said it was in “no doubt” that Grosjean had spat at his wife.
Judge Korner told Grosjean: "It wasn't in self defence. We deplore the spit, you should never have done it, it is despicable behaviour by someone in your position.
However the judge added: "We have some sympathy, as you found out your wife was having an affair and were frustrated."
Grosjean was previously sentenced to eight weeks in prison suspended for two years, ordered to carry out 200 hours unpaid work and made to complete a domestic abuse intervention programme. He was also ordered to pay £890 costs.
Judge Korner said that sentenced would be substituted by an absolute discharge and that his criminal record would be "wiped" so "he can get back his good character".
The appeal against the charge of assault by beating was allowed, but the appeal against the charge of common assault was not. The sentence for the remaining charge was reduced to an absolute discharge.