Winehouse assault trial starts

British singer Amy Winehouse deliberately punched a woman after a charity ball last September, the Crown prosecutorsaid asher trial began Thursday in London.

Winehouse, 25,ison trial for assault after it was alleged she punchedthe fan in the eye when asked to pose for a photograph.

Prosecutor Lyall Thompson said Winehouse initially agreed to have her picture taken but might have been angered when a drunken friend of the alleged victim, Sherene Flash, tried to get into the photo op.

"This was a deliberate assault by Miss Winehouse," Thompson said. "There was nothing accidental about Miss Winehouse's actions."

Flash testified in the City of Westminster Magistrates' Court that Winehouse "punched forcefully" in her right eye. "She looked drunk. She looked maybe like she was on drugs or something,"Flash said.

Patrick Gibbs, Winehouse's defence lawyer, argued that the soul singer had attempted to push away the fan and that the alleged assault was accidental.

"You wanted to be in a photo with Miss Winehouse. When she said 'I am coming back in two minutes' time,' you weren't prepared to wait. You put your arm around her and she pushed you away, and she must have caught you on the side of your eye," Gibbs said to Flash.

Winehouse, best known for her award-winning album Back to Black, has lead a troubled life since her rise to fame. The soul singer battled a drug addiction and recently ended her two-year marriage to Blake Fielder-Civil.