‘Idiots were hell-bent on trouble,’ court is told
A MAN accused of violent disorder told a police officer he should have thanked him for defending people in his local pub, a court heard.
Robert Moore, who is on trial at Cardiff Crown Court, attended the police station voluntarily following an incident at the Cornwall pub in Grangetown on August 12 last year.
Asked if he thought hitting a man four times was “proportionate”, he replied: “Yes, he would have hit me.
“His friends would have come in and beaten innocent people. You should be thanking me.”
Moore and fellow Cardiff City fan Dominic Burgess are on trial along with Aston Villa fans Steven Fowler and Paul Sweeney.
In his police interview, Moore described the Cornwall as his local pub and said he had been drinking there most weekends for 25 years. He said it was just before 7pm when he heard “a commotion” and became aware people were getting “beaten up” outside.
Moore told officers: “I could see a gang of blokes. The Aston Villa supporters came chucking bottles.”
He said he was standing by the side door and went into the foyer “just to have a look”, but got pushed back into the pub. Moore told the police one man threw a bottle at him, while another punched him, so he punched back.
He said: “Another person came in shouting and screaming like a man possessed. He came in all guns blazing. Jumping up and down. Just being a general d***head.”
Moore stated he heard that man shout: “Come on you Welsh c***s.”
He added: “These guys were idiots hellbent on trouble. I didn’t want my local pub to be wrecked. I had family and friends nearby and I wasn’t having it. I hit him to get him out.”
Moore accepted hitting the man four times. The interviewing officer said the CCTV showed the man had not thrown any punches.
The defendant replied: “I just thought: ‘Any second now, he’s going to go for me.’ He was bouncing around like a thug.
“He’s come in shouting and screaming. I’m not going to buy him a pint. It was dog-eat-dog. It was either him or me. He was about to hit me and I didn’t give him the chance.”
Moore said he felt “appalled” by what he had seen and wanted to defend himself and the pub.
Asked why he did not call the police, he replied: “They wouldn’t have been there in time.”
Burgess was also interviewed at Cardiff Bay Police Station. He told police he was about to get the train back to Bridgend with a friend when he saw a minibus pull up outside the pub.
He said: “I have never been in anything like that before in my life. I was fighting for my life.”
The officer suggested it looked from the CCTV like he was approaching the group of Aston Villa fans and applauding. Burgess denied that, but said he did remember saying: “What are you all doing?”
Burgess was shown the CCTV footage and asked why he took a “fighting stance”, he replied: “That guy is not there just to talk to me.”
Moore, 51, from Warwick Street, Cardiff, and Burgess, 36, from Woodland Avenue, Porthcawl, deny using or threatening unlawful violence.
Fowler, 49, from Cottage Lane, Sutton Coldfield, and Sweeney, 32, from Knightcote Drive, Solihull, who gave “no comment” police interviews, deny the same charge.
The trial continues.