Mum’s grief at son’s killer back on road
Cricketer ‘was protecting gay pals’
DEATH Kayden, left, & Zamir THE mum of a seven-yearold who was run over near a park has told of her anguish after the driver who killed him was caught back at the wheel despite a ban.
Tonie Cleverley blasted Shakeeb Zamir for a “complete lack of respect” to son Kayden Dunn.
Zamir, 22, was jailed for 12 months in May last year and given a three-year ban for causing Kayden’s death by careless driving.
Tonie, 30, spoke out after North Staffordshire magistrates sent him back to prison for 12 weeks for driving while disqualified.
Tonie, from Stoke-onTrent, said: “It’s a kick in the teeth. He thought he could get away with this.
“It’s disgusting, 12 weeks is not nearly enough.”
Zamir was also banned for a further 28 months.
A REVELLER knocked unconscious by England cricketer Ben Stokes had threatened to “bottle” him if he intervened in a homophobic street clash, a court heard yesterday.
The warning was from one of two clubbers he punched for their “nasty abuse” to a pair of gay men, the star claimed.
Stokes, 27, and the men he hit, Ryan Ali and Ryan Hale, are charged jointly with affray. But a jury heard that the Test all-rounder told police he acted in self-defence.
He also claimed in his statement that the gay friends, Kai Barry and William O’Connor, had thanked him for protecting them.
“Ali and Hale were taller and broader than Kai and William and both had glass bottles in their hands,” he told officers. “The pair on the receiv- ing end of the abuse were verbally combative and sticking up for themselves. “They weren’t shying away from it but were obviously offended by the abuse levelled at them. What Ali and Hale were saying was far from harmless banter – it was nasty, homophobic abuse.” Stokes, with England team mate Alex Hales outside Mbargo nightclub in Bristol at the time last September, told police the “bottling” threat came from Ali. “We knew they were prepared to use weapons that could do serious injury – and I feared they could have other weapons with them,” he said. Stokes, who first knocked out Hale then Ali shortly afterwards, went on: “Both Kai and William thanked me for preventing them from being beaten up.
“The force that I used in defending us was reasonable and entirely justified when the circumstances are viewed objectively.”
“Ali attacked Alex and Kai with a weapon when asked simply to stop the homophobic abuse he was giving Kai and William.
“This was an extreme act of aggression in the circumstances and informed my assessment of the situation.
“I did not know Hale or Ali and I was forced to make a decision on how far they’d be prepared to go and what they might do if they got the upper hand.
“They’d shown a willingness to use weapons in attacking people and were willing to gang up – such that, at points, the pair were attacking me on my own.
“I knew they were prepared to use weapons and so had a reasonable belief they might be carrying more weapons – perhaps of a more serious type.”
Bristol crown court was previously told that the cricketer had “bullied” both of the gay men outside the club, flicked a cigarette at one of them and also abused a bouncer before becoming embroiled in the punch-up.
Off-duty PCSO Mark Spure yesterday told the court that Stokes was the “main aggressor”.
He described seeing him punch Ali – who was in the road trying to get away – with a “clenched fist”.
Photographs of the injuries suffered by his co-defendants’ after the brawl in the Clifton area were shown to jurors.
In the snaps 28-year-old Ali is seen with a black eye, while Hale, 27, has cuts on his forehead and inside his mouth.
The court heard after the clash Ali was taken to hospital by ambulance suffering from a fracture to the left side of his face.
His left eye was swollen and he also had a cut above his eyebrow, a cracked lower left molar and bruising to his head. Hale cycled to hospital, where he was found to have bruising and a cut to his forehead.
Stokes, of Durham, Ali, of Bristol, and Hale, of Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol, each deny affray. The trial continues.