England cricketer Ben Stokes was the “main aggressor” in an incident that took place near a nightclub, an onlooker told a court.
The 27-year-old allrounder is accused of affray in Bristol during the early hours of September 25 last year.
He is alleged to have offered STG300 ($520) to gain entry into nightclub Mbargo, which was refused, as it was past 2am.
Stokes is said to have mocked two gay men, Kai Barry and William O’Connor, outside the club before knocking out two other men they were with a short time later.
Bristol Crown Court heard evidence from off-duty police community support officer Andrew Spure, who was also at Mbargo on the night in question.
In a statement written hours after the alleged incident, he described how he was walking down a nearby street after leaving the nightclub.
“I saw a group of people fighting, there were three to five people involved in some form of scuffle,” it read.
“I walked into the road to try to separate the group and get in between them.
“As I was on my own, when I separated two of them more people carried on behind me.
“While I was trying to stop the fighting, one of the males struck the other in the head with a clenched fist.”
The court has heard it was Stokes who had struck Ryan Ali, knocking him to the floor.
Ali, 28, and his friend Ryan Hale, 27, are also standing trial accused of affray during the incident.
When asked about separating Stokes and Ali, Spure told the court: “The individual seemed to be the main aggressor or was progressing forward trying to get to another individual.
“In my statement I describe him as a gentleman with ginger or light brown hair. He had a green T-shirt on.”
He said Ali “seemed to be trying to back away or get away from the situation” before he was punched by Stokes.
The court heard he identified Stokes to police officers, who then arrested the cricketer.
Jurors have been told that Stokes first hit Hale, knocking him to the ground, before rendering Ali unconscious in the punch seen by Spure.
Ali was taken to hospital by ambulance, with doctors noting that he had suffered a fracture to the medial orbital wall on the left side of his face.
His left eye was swollen and he had a laceration above his eyebrow, a cracked tooth and bruising to his head.
Hale cycled to hospital, where he was found to have bruising and a 4cm laceration consistent with blunt trauma.
Ali is alleged to have threatened Stokes’ teammate Alex Hales with a bottle during the incident, while Hale broke off a metal pole from a nearby road sign after being allegedly knocked out by Stokes.
Neil Back
Roar Rookie
Jeez this is tiresome. Does it occur to you to ask why the prosecution didn't call these guys to the stand either? Does it occur to you to question the video used by the prosecution to evidence the flicking of a cigarette, when in fact if you look at the footage it looks just as likely he is still holding something in his fingers after the alleged flick? Are you that confident this grainy image is that clear? Maybe this is why you are a journalist. Speculation from 12,000 miles away, with a fraction of the evidence, is at best not helpful and at worst indicative of a far less noble agenda.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
"We have not heard one thing from either of the gay guys about Stokes being a dick to them." Actually, the court has not heard a word from those two "gay guys" because they did not take the stand in this trial. If Stokes was, in fact, protecting those two men in this fight you'd think they surely would have taken the stand to confirm that in court and repay Stokes for his actions. Instead, what the court has been shown is clear footage of Stokes appearing to mock the "gay guys" and then clearly throwing a cigarette at one of them from close range. I'd say throwing a cigarette at someone undeniably amounts to "being a dick".
Bakkies
Roar Guru
That's how it happened with the Rugby rape trial in Belfast where there were four defendants including two Ireland test players Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding. All the defendants had their own barristers and the girl was put up on the stand for at least 9 days straight having to go through the whole sordid mess behind a curtain.
jameswm
Roar Guru
No. 2 people have now said Stokes was not defending the gays but was the aggressor.
James
Guest
We have no heard one thing from either of the gay guys about Stokes being a dick to them. Do you think there is any way in hell that we wouldnt have heard about that if it were true, Stokes has been saying for months he was defending them, this would have been refuted by them. The only person saying that Stokes was being homophobic was the bouncer who said that Stokes was talking to the couple in a non pc way. As for Stokes being the aggrssor, didnt the other guy have a broken bottle and started it according to everyone? If someone comes at you with a broken bottle you are allowed to be aggressive
Neil Back
Roar Rookie
So you saw one piece of evidence and convicted. You may be proven right, but that’s why you’d never make a trial judge.
Brasstax
Guest
Yes trying to get away from him after swinging a bottle at Alex Bales and one of the gay men. Stokes is telling the truth. His bad luck is that the police officer only saw him being aggressive towards the 2 men, but missed events leading up to that.
jeznez
Roar Guru
Nah - the worst thing I've seen a cricketer do lately is Michael Clarke endorsing crypto currency speculation.
jeznez
Roar Guru
I've seen the video Neil, he goes after blokes that are trying to get away from him - if they find that to be self-defence then I'd seriously question what went on in the courtroom.
Neil Back
Roar Rookie
So if he's found to be acting in self-defense? You et al really need to pull your judgemental necks in and let those qualified and in a position to, do their jobs, and the process complete. If you get the result you so clearly want, there will be plenty of time for you to do your knitting at the scaffold.
jameswm
Roar Guru
How is Stokes supposed to refute it when he probably can’t remember what happened?
Degsy
Guest
They've blown nothing away, if there was any harassment of the gay couple by Stokes they would have been called as prosecution witnesses. It's stupid to try and read anything into this until all of the evidence is heard.
jameswm
Roar Guru
Not correct. ECB (and other bodies) take action for a breach of contract or breach of code of conduct. Not the same at all.
Ouch
Guest
ball tampering is much worse apparently......................
Brian
Guest
Stokes needs to be found guily before the ECB take further action. That is why we have trials.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
How can this bloke play for England any time soon regardless of whether he is found guilty by this court? Compare his actions and Smith’s ban for a year for misleading the umpires and the public (not actually for the ball tampering if you read CA’s statement). Got to be at least a year.
Paul
Roar Guru
I think you have it right Chris. As it stands, all 3 guys have been charged with the same offence and when it's the defence teams turn, you can bet they'll do two things; try and discredit the prosecutions case as well as attacking each other to prove their client was innocent of the affray charges. As an outsider relying on the media, it certainly looks like Stokes was the main aggressor, especially when he knocked out his co-defendants! If that video tape is introduced into evidence (has it been?), it's certainly not a good look for Stokes.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
From one of the things I saw on this trial it looks like all three are basically in the court as defendants, with basically the single trial being run for all three defendants? Is that the case? Because if it is, that makes it look even worse for Stokes, as he's specifically being singles out by prosecutors in a case where all are being tried together. I guess it makes sense to try them all together as all the evidence and such being presented would basically be the same for all, so no need to waste everyone's time doing it multiple times. Although, I would guess the defendents would all have their own lawyers, so I do wonder if that would mean that when they get to the defense part you almost get the different defense attorneys going at each other as much as they go at the prosecutions case. It will be interesting watching how it plays out (albeit from a distance, only getting snippits of what actually happens!).
jameswm
Roar Guru
Especially where Stokes and his supporters ran the line that he was protecting the two gays from the other men. This off duty cop plus the bouncer have blown that away. Stokes was severely affected - how can his word be accepted? This is not looking good.
Paul
Roar Guru
It's the prosecutions turn to present their case and it sounds petty ugly. It will be interesting to see how Stokes defends himself against this evidence, which seem to be pretty damning.