Naomi Campbell Gets Six-Month Prison Sentence for Hitting Sicilian Paparazzo

Supermodel Naomi Campbell has been found guilty of assault in a Sicilian court and given a six-month suspended prison sentence. The charge was related to her hitting a paparazzo in Sicily with a purse. Her lawyer says they will appeal the ruling.

"We are fighting the ruling," lawyer Guido Carlo Alleva said according to the Daily Mail. "Due to the ongoing legal process, we can't discuss the matter further."

In August 2009, Campbell and her then boyfriend, Russian billionaire Vladimir Doronin, were visiting the island of Lipari off the coast of Sicily. Gaetano Di Giovanni, a photographer, started taking pictures of the couple as they walked through town.

"I had just started taking some shots of her and I did not expect such a violent reaction," Di Giovanni said according to The Telegraph.

Campbell hit Di Giovanni with her purse, which scratched his eye. He needed medical treatment and three days to recover.

The case had been settled outside of court, but Italian prosecutor Francesco Massara ordered a trial due to the intensity of the charges.

Campbell has previously been charged with assault. In 2006, the supermodel was charged with second-degree assault for infamously throwing a cell phone at her housekeeper, who she accused of stealing a pair of jeans. The housekeeper had to get four stitches in her head from the cell phone throw.

From that charge, Campbell served five days of community service in New York City in 2007. A true supermodel to the end, she used community service as a runway of sorts, arriving ever day in couture.

As she left her last day of community service, Campbell donned a silver Dolce & Gabbana gown and stilettos.

"Why shouldn't I have done? Why should they expect me to go looking bedraggled or something?" Campbell later said about her community service fashion choices.