Justin Bieber Pleads Guilty In Careless Driving Case In Canada, Fined $600

Justin Bieber pleaded guilty Thursday to charges related to assault and careless driving while on an outing with ex-girlfriend Selena Gomez in Canada last August. The 21-year-old pop singer reportedly attended the Canadian court via Skype from the Los Angeles office of his lawyer, Howard Weitzman.

Bieber has to shell out C$750 ($600) for the careless driving charge and an additional C$100 ($79) as victim surcharge, and will not have to serve a jail term, Reuters reported. He has been ordered to answer the charges at a hearing in Stratford, Ontario, in September, CNN reported.

The charges against Bieber stemmed from his arrest in Stratford near his father’s house last year. Officers responded to a crash between a minivan of a photographer and Bieber’s all-terrain vehicle. They also reportedly found that the two drivers had had in a physical altercation.

Bieber’s lawyer, Brian Greenspan, released a statement at the time, saying that his client’s weekend “was unfortunately disrupted by the unwelcome presence of paparazzi,” Entertainment Weekly reported. “This has regrettably resulted in charges of dangerous driving and assault."

“All of a sudden there were cameras and he reacted badly to it,” Greenspan told EW, adding: “He (Bieber) acknowledged what he did.”

Bieber was then released on "a promise to appear."

This is not the first time the Canadian singer has landed in legal trouble. In August 2014, Bieber pleaded guilty to careless driving and resisting an officer without violence in Florida, after facing accusations of drag racing in a Lamborghini under the influence of drugs and alcohol, according to Reuters. In July last year, he pleaded no contest to misdemeanor vandalism for egging his neighbor’s house in California. He was sentenced to two years of probation.