England star Stokes acquitted after brawl
England cricketer Ben Stokes was found not guilty of affray in a unanimous decision by a jury in less than three hours of deliberations on Tuesday after a trial at Bristol Crown Court.
The 27-year-old – whose codefendant Ryan Ali was also found not guilty – had been charged following a brawl hours after England played the West Indies in a one-day international in Bristol, southwest England, in September 2017.
His wife, Clare, cried when the not-guilty verdicts were returned, while Stokes closed his eyes with relief and then looked up.
Stokes shook hands with Ali at the end of the trial, which lasted seven days.
At the start of the trial, the prosecution tried to amend the indictment and charge Stokes with two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, but the judge rejected that.
Halfway through the trial, Stokes’s legal team attempted to have the case against him dropped, but this was also refused by the judge.
The jury had been warned twice by Peter Blair about media coverage and social media, on the second occasion instructing them to avoid looking at commentary of the case after Stokes’s lawyer raised the issue.
One Twitter user created a poll asking whether Stokes should play cricket for England again if he was convicted but escaped a prison sentence.
New Zealand-born Stokes said in his testimony on Friday that he had a significant memory blackout but he was absolutely not an angry man who had lost all control.
Stokes – who was with England teammate Alex Hales – said he intervened because 28year-old Ali and his friend Ryan Hale – who had been acquitted earlier in the trial – had directed alleged homophobic abuse at gay men William O’Connor and Kai Barry as they walked away from Mbargo nightclub.
Hales, who was interviewed under caution but never arrested in relation to the incident, was seen on the CCTV stamping and kicking Ali in the head as he lay on the floor.
Stokes went out celebrating after England beat the West Indies on September 24.
Stokes said he would have had a bottle of beer after the match, two or three pints at the hotel, five or six vodka and lemonades and “potentially some Jagerbombs” in Mbargo.
Ali, who is an emergency services worker, had drunk six or seven Jack Daniels and Cokes during his night out with former soldier Hale.
Ali who was knocked unconscious and suffered a fractured eye socket, said in his evidence he remained in the care of a surgeon and still suffered from double vision.
He said his memory of the night was incomplete due to his head injury.
Ali recalled walking along the street with Hale, Barry and O’Connor, “having a laugh and some banter and the next thing having a tall blond man charging towards me”.
“I just didn’t want any trouble so I was backing away.”
The England and Wales Cricket Board said it would review Stokes’s position.
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