Cruise couple ‘ beaten unconscious by man they snubbed at meal’
AFTER enjoying dinner, an evening show and a drink in the cruise ship’s cabaret bar, Ron and June Phillips headed to their cabin clutching cups of cocoa.
But their relaxing night on the luxury liner was shattered by a violent confrontation that left both unconscious.
The elderly couple were ambushed outside their room by a passenger who had earlier sat with them in the restaurant and claims that he was snubbed, a court heard yesterday.
Graeme Finlay, 53, says he was ‘ignored’ when he joined their table and so moved to another after looking at the menu.
He claims Mr Phillips, 70, later struck him with his crutch during a confrontation but the couple say they were ambushed. Mr Phillips and his 69-year- old wife were on a 14-night holiday based in the Canary Islands, which involved seven nights on the Thomson Celebration ship and seven nights in a hotel. Describing the horrific night in January last year – when the liner was cruising off the coast of Lanzarote – Mr Phillips told the court he had drunk about three gin and tonics when he and his wife headed back to their cabin.
Mr Phillips walked with a crutch because of a hip replacement operation and his wife also suffered from limited mobility due to osteoarthritis.
He told Teesside Crown Court that he was holding both cups of hot chocolate in one hand and his crutch in the other when they were set upon as they entered their room. Mr Phillips said he was about to follow his wife into the cabin when he spotted someone out of the corner of his eye.
‘The next thing I knew I came to with people all around me,’ he said. ‘There seemed to be blood everywhere and broken hot chocolate mugs. I only remember one punch to my head and I was knocked out.’
In her evidence, Mrs Phillips said: ‘I saw Ron lying on the bulkhead and this great big guy going boof, boof, boof [she made a punching motion]. He must have hit him five times. I put my hand on his arm and told him, “leave him alone, you will kill him”.’
Prosecutor Lewis Kerr told the court that Mr Phillips suffered facial injuries.
His wife was pushed against a wall and also knocked unconscious. She was found to have suffered two broken vertebrae.
The crew of the Celebration found bed sheets and a T-shirt in Finlay’s cabin with blood marks.
He was not on the ship, which was in port at the time of the discovery, but when he returned he was told to make his own way back to his home in Glasgow.
Mr Kerr said: ‘The defendant was interviewed by the police and explained he had an argument with Mr and Mrs Phillips.
‘He accepts he hit Mr Phillips but didn’t accept causing the injuries to Mrs Phillips. He said he was only ever acting in self-defence.’
It was alleged that after dinner Finlay had shared a lift with Mr and Mrs Phillips and told them: ‘You ignored me, I want an apology.’
Peter Kilgour, defending, put it to Mr Phillips that he swore at the defendant and ‘lashed out at him’ with his crutch.
Mr Phillips replied: ‘No. Never in my life have I hit anyone, not even my wife, you can ask her.’
He said there was no row in the lift and that he was attacked without warning.
He also denied snubbing Finlay at dinner, insisting: ‘I wouldn’t ignore someone who had sat down at my table. We were in the restaurant for 45 minutes to an hour and didn’t see him again. We just chatted to the other couple. There was no disagreement.’
Finlay denies unlawfully wounding Mr Phillips and causing Mrs Phillips grievous bodily harm.
The case continues.
‘Leave him alone, you will kill him’