A Nigerian defendant hurled his shoe at an Old Bailey judge during the murder trial of the son of the former prime minister of Somalia.
Muslim Onochie Madekwe, 33, threw the trainer 30 feet across Court 9, causing Judge Gerald Gordon to duck for cover.
The shoe hit the wall behind the judge and fell to the floor to the left of where he was sitting.
Judge Gordon rose from the bench while order was restored and the clerk retrieved the footwear.
He told the court: ‘The reason I rose was because Mr Madekwe threw one of his trainers at me and it seemed appropriate to have a break.’
Later the defendant asked: ‘Can I have my shoe back?’
Judge Gordon had been making a ruling yesterday in the absence of the jury in a long-running murder trial.
After jurors returned to court, Madekwe told them what he had done.
He said: ‘I had to throw my shoe in protest because Judge Gordon told me I couldn’t do my opening speech.
‘I took my shoe off and threw it at him.’
Madekwe, who is defending himself, added: ‘I am innocent.’
Madekwe, from Kingsbury, north west London, denies murdering Hassan Kul Hawadleh, the 19-year-old student son of a former prime minister of Somalia.
The teenager was stabbed to death on the forecourt of a Total garage in Wealdstone in February.
Michael Boyde, 37, of Willesden, Andrew Spence, 22, of Ealing, and Abdul Khan, 19, of Harrow Weald, also deny murder.
Madekwe is said to have taken part in a gang attack on the 19 year-old victim
His co-defendant Khan admits stabbing Mr Hawadleh in self defence.
The trial continues.
The incident is reminiscent of the case of Muntazer al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at George W Bush during a news conference.
Zaidi was sentenced to three years imprisonment for assaulting a head of state. His sentence was later reduced to a year, and he was released in September.
Showing the soles of shoes to someone is a sign of contempt in Arab culture.