Two men appear in court for allegedly threatening to kill Arsenal football star Mesut Ozil

Two men have appeared in court over an alleged threat they made about Arsenal football star, Mesut Ozil and his mum.

The men, Salaman Ekinci and Ferhat Ercun, both 27, are accused of being abusive outside the Arsenal star’s North London home. They allegedly threatened to kill the German midfielder and “f*** his mother.”
A security guard told Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court today that he and a colleague were threatened on August 8, last year.

Narrating the incident in court, the security guard told the court that he first saw two men at around 7.30 pm before they returned around three hours later.

He said: “They swore in Turkish, saying ‘f*** your mothers, we’re going to f*** Mesut’s mother and we’re going to come back in five minutes and if security don’t go from here, we’re going to kill Mesut Ozil and kill you’.

“We started chasing them … we got angry because Mesut Ozil, about two to three weeks prior, was attacked and we feared that the same thing would happen.”

The incident occurred just two weeks after Ozil and Arsenal team-mate Sead Kolasinac were attacked by moped muggers who tried to steal from them.

Asked by prosecutor Sarah Gabay how he felt, he said: “Stressed … Mesut Ozil is loved by the Turkish people. We have that responsibility on us to protect him.”

Ms Gabay said Ekinci and Ercun were detained by the guards after they returned for a third time after midnight before police were called.

She said: “In an interview, both defendants denied using the language and said they had been no conversation between them and said they had been attacked by the security guards”

Ekinci and Ercun,  who appeared at the trial today denied one count of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour to cause harassment, alarm or distress.