Brody Dalle testifies against Josh Homme during domestic violence trial
Content warning: This story contains discussion and descriptions of alleged domestic violence.
Brody Dalle has testified against her ex-husband Josh Homme during the first day of an expected 10-day trial regarding the former couple’s duelling domestic violence restraining orders.
Both Dalle and Homme filed their respective restraining orders against each other back in August, with this latest hearing set to decide whether the emergency stay-away order should stand (via Rolling Stone).
The trial was postponed until this week after Dalle was convicted in November of one count of contempt by a Los Angeles judge for “wilfully” failing to hand her five-year-old son over to Homme in September as part of an agreed custody deal.
In this latest trial, which began yesterday (January 24), Dalle testified that Homme “terrified” her and alleged that, in November 2019, the Queens of the Stone Age frontman head-butted her so hard that she “saw stars”.
“He head-butted me really hard. His forehead hit my head right here [gesturing to her right temple],” Distillers founder Dalle told the court during her testimony. “I saw stars. I blacked out. My head went back, and I was on the ground. He bent down and he said, ‘You fucking faker’.”
Dalle said that Home appeared to be intoxicated during the alleged assault at their former home on November 27, 2019, and alleged that Homme confessed that he’d “been thinking about wanting to kill you”.
“He said, ‘I’ve been thinking about wanting to kill you, and if I killed you, no one would know, because you’d be dead,’” Dalle testified. “I was in shock. I couldn’t believe that he would say something like that.”
Dalle said that after the alleged head-butting incident she filed for a restraining order and initiated her divorce from Homme. After Homme subsequently attended rehab the couple had some success in co-parenting, Dalle said, until Homme allegedly turned violent again in June during a custodial handoff involving the couple’s two young sons.
According to Dalle, the guitarist punched her car window, wouldn’t let her close her door, called her a “c**t” and said, “Hey Brody, fuck you forever.” Dalle said that Homme was angry because their teenage daughter, who now has her own restraining order against Homme, refused to go to his house.
Rolling Stone reports that Homme “sat quietly in the courtroom, often taking notes” during Dalle’s testimony yesterday.
In his restraining order against Dalle, Homme claimed that she “angrily slammed her car door into my body, causing significant bruising”. He also alleges that Dalle punched him in the face on “several occasions” during their marriage and also threw objects at him, “such as her handbag and an iron”.
He also said that Dalle called him “derogatory names such as ‘motherfucker,’ ‘asshole’ and ‘piece of shit.’”
The trial will continue today (January 25).
Earlier this month, Dalle’s current partner Gunner Foxx alleged that Homme threatened his life during a “terrifying” altercation on Christmas Eve.
Homme previously filed for a civil harassment restraining order against Foxx, claiming Dalle’s partner was intentionally interfering with Homme’s relationship and custodial time with his two sons.
The petition saw Homme claim that Foxx filed “fraudulent, forged documents” in September that seek restraining orders for the two children against Homme. A hearing on that petition has been set for February 2.