Just one day after announcing his exit from Kasabian, founding vocalist Tom Meighan has plead guilty to assaulting his ex-fiancée Vikki Ager.
As the BBC reports, Meighan was alleged to have attacked Ager while intoxicated on April 9th. The court heard that Meighan “threw the victim across the room in a rage” which caused injuries to her head after hitting a hamster cage.
The court also heard that Meighan “smelt heavily of intoxicants” during the incident, which left Ager with bruises on her knees, elbow, and ankle, along with “a reddening around her neck”.
A child was reported to have witnessed the incident, and subsequently called emergency services. While Meighan initially denied involvement, he relented after being shown CCTV footage of the event in question.
Following the guilty plea, district judge Nick Watson imposed an 18-month community order on Meighan, with 200 hours of unpaid work ordered to be undertaken. He is also required to complete five days of rehabilitation, with a £90 victim surcharge ordered to be paid, along with £85 in prosecution costs.
Meighan was revealed to have exited Kasabian – which he co-founded back in 1997 – earlier this week, with the decision being deemed one of “mutual consent” in a statement released by the band.
Tom Meighan is stepping down from Kasabian by mutual consent. Tom has struggled with personal issues that have affected his behaviour for quite some time and now wants to concentrate all his energies on getting his life back on track. We will not be commenting further.
— KasabianHQ (@KasabianHQ) July 6, 2020
https://twitter.com/MeighanOfficial/status/1280130108049817600
“Tom has struggled with personal issues that have affected his behaviour for quite some time and now wants to concentrate all his energies on getting his life back on track,” the group explained. Meighan later reassured fans via his own statement that he is “doing well” and is “in a really good place now”.
Following the guilty plea, Kasabian issued a further statement on the matter, noting that they are “completely heartbroken” by the situation they have found themselves in.
“No one in the band wanted this to happen,” the statement read. “We have all worked so hard for the past twenty three years and had big plans for our future together. We’re completely heartbroken.
“But we were left with no choice but to ask Tom to leave the band. There is absolutely no way we can condone his assault conviction. Domestic violence and abuse of any kind is totally unacceptable.”
Just weeks ago, Meighan told Sky News that the band had been looking towards their seventh studio album, with plans to formally begin the creative process once COVID-19 restrictions had lifted.
“We need a seventh baby,” Meighan said. “We’re going to try and make a new record as soon as we can but we can’t really do anything while we’re restricted. Serge has been writing songs for Kasabian so it’s all good.”
Now that the legal proceedings have been concluded, we can comment on the departure of Tom Meighan from the band. Full statement below. Kasabian x pic.twitter.com/vP7Y61sxQA
— KasabianHQ (@KasabianHQ) July 7, 2020
However, Kasabian’s statement made it clear that as soon as they were made aware of the charges against Meighan, they ended their professional relationship with him.
“Unfortunately we had to hold back this information until he was found guilty in court,” they concluded. “We were led to believe that Tom would hold his hands up and in his statement tell everyone what he’d done but he chose not to, misleading a lot of fans.
“Ultimately, as much as Tom has hurt us all, we’re not the victim in all of this. Domestic violence is something that can never be excused. Thank for your support at this difficult time.”
