‘Red mist’ of Stokes but Hales ‘had role’
CRICKET ace Ben Stokes hurled gay slurs and battered two men unconscious during a street brawl outside a club after the “red mist came down”, a court heard.
The Durham all-rounder is said to have knocked out former soldier Ryan Hale, 27, and fireman Ryan Ali, 28, on a boozy night out.
The England star, 27, is also accused of mocking two gay revellers and flicking a cigarette butt at one of their heads.
Prosecutors said Stokes played a “greater role” in the violence.
But his defence said claims the cricketer was enraged at getting turned away from the Mbargo club were “absolute nonsense”.
They suggested his England team-mate Alex Hales may have caused injuries to a man who was later punched by Stokes, jurors were told.
CCTV footage allegedly shows the opening batsman, 29, kicking Ali in the head and stamping on him as he lay on the ground.
Gordon Cole, defending, said there had been a “great deal of rowing back” by the prosecution since the trial began last week.
“Is this man getting special treatment because of who he is?” Mr Cole asked. “Is this man being focused on because of who he is?”
He asked the jury to consider all the CCTV footage in the case very closely, including the role of Stokes’s international team-mate Alex Hales in the incident in Bristol in September.
Mr Cole said: “You will see Mr Hales on one occasion appearing to kick. So, when the prosecution seeks to hang all the blame at Ben Stokes’s door by saying he rendered people unconscious, just look at what happened. Think about kicks and stamps.
“There’s no evidence before you, and I’m not suggesting for one minute that you should guess, but you can infer from what you know of injuries that were sustained.” Stokes is standing trial for affray at Bristol Crown Court where he was labelled the “aggressor”. He claims self-defence and denies using homophobic language. Ali, left, is also on trial. Mr Hale was acquitted of affray
on Thursday.