Hales ‘may have caused injuries to the man punched by Stokes’
ENGLAND CRICKETER Alex Hales may have caused injuries to a man who was later knocked unconscious by team-mate Ben Stokes, a court has heard.
Stokes, 27, has insisted he was acting in self-defence when he hit Ryan Ali, 28, and Ryan Hale, 27, after they had abused two gay men near a nightclub in Bristol.
Bristol Crown Court heard that the precise start to the violence is unknown but Ali, who is on trial alongside Stokes accused of affray, swung a beer bottle at Mr Hales.
Ali then delivered a glancing blow to the shoulder of Kai Barry, a gay man who was out with friend William O’Connor in the Clifton Triangle area of Bristol in the early hours of September 25 last year.
Stokes is accused of knocking Ali to the floor, with fellow cricketer Mr Hales then apparently kicking his head and stamping on him as he lay on the ground.
The all-rounder is said to have knocked Mr Hale unconscious before doing the same to Ali a short time later. Stokes, of Stockton Road, Castle Eden, Durham, and Ali, of Forest Road, Bristol, each deny a charge of affray.
The jury in the trial will begin their deliberations at 10am today, Judge Peter Blair QC said.
After summing up the evidence in the case last night he sent them home for the night.
Judge Blair told the jury of six men and six women that they must strive to reach unanimous verdicts when they retire, and only when he directed them could they consider anything less.
“It is the prosecution that brings this case to court and it is the prosecution that has the burden of proving the allegations,” he said.
“You must ask yourself this question: Does the prosecution prove all matters that it is required to prove in order for you to reach a verdict of guilty?”
The judge said that both defendants were of good character, which the jury should consider as part of their deliberations.