I felt threatened. They had bottles and I had to defend myself, claims Stokes
BEN STOKES, the England cricketer, said he felt “under immediate threat of attack” from two bottle-wielding brawlers after he leapt to the defence of two men suffering “nasty homophobic abuse”, a court was told yesterday.
Stokes, 27, claims he was forced to knock out Ryan Ali and Ryan Hale out of “instinct” and because he was “vulnerable”, “frightened” and “felt the need to defend myself ”.
In two statements to police, Stokes claimed violence erupted after he shouted at the pair for verbally abusing “flamboyant” Kai Barry and William O’connor, who later thanked him for intervening.
Stokes and Alex Hales, his England team-mate, were walking “calmly” towards a casino when they heard “homophobic” abuse aimed by Mr Ali and Mr Hale at the two men, Bristol Crown Court heard.
Stokes said he shouted “leave it out, you shouldn’t be taking the p--s because they are gay”, but Mr Ali responded by saying “f--- off or I’ll bottle you”. However, an off-duty police support officer told the court that Stokes was the “main aggressor” in the 2am brawl that left fire brigade worker Mr Ali “completely unable to move”.
Stokes, on trial with Mr Ali and Mr Hale are accused of affray outside a Bristol nightclub last September, said he drank two pints and five vodka shots in the hours before the fight took place.
Stokes said he and Hales decided to walk to a casino and headed down Queens Road, where they passed Mr Barry and Mr O’connor, who were with Mr Hale and Mr Ali.
“Although I can’t remember anything specific now, I do recall that the language being used was homophobic in nature and was being directed at Kai and William by Ryan Hale and Ryan Ali. [They] were taller and broader than Kai and William. I noticed that they both had glass bottles in their hands...
“What [they] were saying was far from harmless banter, it was nasty homophobic abuse.”
When Stokes intervened, he said Mr Ali attacked Hales with a bottle, then using it on Mr Barry.
“I decided at this point matters had become too serious to ignore and that I had to intervene to stop Ryan Ali,” Stokes told police. “I struck Ryan Ali with my right hand just after he had delivered the blow on Kai and as he came at me with the bottle and had it raised.”
Stokes said he and Mr Ali scuffled on the floor, with Mr Hale – also with a bottle – then becoming involved.
“At this point, I felt vulnerable and frightened. I was concerned for myself and others,” he claimed. “They were complete strangers. We knew that they were prepared to use weapons that could do serious injury and I feared they could have other weapons with them.”
Police body-camera footage of his arrest showed Stokes asking an officer whether cameras had recorded the fight.
Hales initially told police he had not witnessed the brawl, the jury were told. Yesterday they heard Hales had stamped on Mr Ali three times during the brawl. He was not charged.
Stokes, Mr Hale and Mr Ali each deny affray. The trial, which continues, was due to run for a week.