BBC radio DJ fined £1,000 for breaking Covid rules after letting pals borrow her speakers for a rave in lockdown
A BBC radio DJ has been fined £1,000 for breaking Covid rules after ‘lending’ her speakers for a warehouse rave. Maressa Innerarity, 33, gave friends her equipment for a party in trendy east London just days after a four-week lockdown was announced. A resident at a nearby tower block reported noise to the police around […]
A BBC radio DJ has been fined £1,000 for breaking Covid rules after ‘lending’ her speakers for a warehouse rave.
Maressa Innerarity, 33, gave friends her equipment for a party in trendy east London just days after a four-week lockdown was announced.
A resident at a nearby tower block reported noise to the police around midnight and officers broke the rave up.
Radio 1Xtra DJ Innerarity, attended the ‘squat party’ in November 2020 to make sure her equipment was not damaged.
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The former teacher was handed a fixed penalty notice, but she told police at the scene she had allowed friends to use her speakers.
Police said between 60 to 180 people attended the party, City of London Magistrates court heard.
Prosecutor Nathan Paine-Davey said: “On 8 November police were called to 263 Poyser Street as a result of a complaint of noise from a resident of a Poyser Street block of flats, they believed there was some sort of gathering going on.
“When police arrived they met with local officers, they could hear loud music coming from the address and there were approximately 60 people on the street.
“Police entered the building and stopped the unlicensed event.
“Police estimated there were about 180 people in the premises.
“It was described as a squat, it is a warehouse, the building.
“Ms Innerarity accepts at the scene that the music equipment was hers, and she was warned she may be prosecuted under the regulations.”
Innerarity was fined £1000, ordered to pay £100 of prosecution costs, and a £100 statutory surcharge.
District Judge Timothy Godfrey also imposed a deprivation order for the speakers, stands, and the controller.
Eric Kabuye, defending, said: “She was approached by two people, Gabriel and Jamal, and she was asked if they could borrow her speakers.
“She accepted, she packed them into the car, and drove them to the venue.
“She stayed around, she was not paid at all, she did not gain anything from this event.
“She is a DJ, but she was not the disc jockey on the day.”
Innerarity, who performs under the stage name Carmen London, has presented takeover shows on BBC Radio 1xtra.
She has also held a residency at the Notting Hill Carnival, and DJed for Afroswing music artist Kojo Funds.
The DJ, of Wandsworth, southwest London, admitted holding or being involve in holding a rave type gathering of more than 30 people indoors.
District Judge Godfrey said: “This was during the national lockdown in November (2020) of which you were aware, as was everyone.
“It was in clear breach of lockdown.
“It is hard to imagine an event more likely to spread Covid.
“It is not only your own health that you risk, it is the health and well being of others.
“Those who organised and attended this event were acting in the most selfish way.
“I must accept that you did not know the full scale of the event.”
