Stokes main aggressor: witness
BRISTOL: England allrounder Ben Stokes was the ‘‘main aggressor’’ in an incident that took place near a nightclub, an onlooker told the court yesterday.
The 27yearold is accused of affray in Bristol during the early hours of September 25 last year.
He is alleged to have offered £300 ($NZ578) to gain entry into nightclub Mbargo, which was refused, as it was past 2am.
Stokes is said to have mocked two gay men, Kai Barry and William O’Connor, outside the club before knocking out two other men they were with a short time later.
Bristol Crown Court heard evidence from offduty police community support officer Andrew Spure, who was also at Mbargo on the night in question.
In a statement written hours after the alleged incident, he described how he was walking down a nearby street after leaving the nightclub.
‘‘I saw a group of people fighting. There were three to five people involved in some form of scuffle,’’ it read.
‘‘I walked into the road to try to separate the group and get in between them.
‘‘As I was on my own, when I separated two of them, more people carried on behind me.
‘‘While I was trying to stop the fighting, one of the males struck the other in the head with a clenched fist.’’
The court has heard it was Stokes who had struck Ryan Ali, knocking him to the ground.
Ali (28) and his friend, Ryan Hale (27), are also standing trial accused of affray during the incident.
When asked about separating Stokes and Ali, Spure told the court: ‘‘The individual seemed to be the main aggressor or was progressing forward trying to get to another individual.
‘‘In my statement I describe him as a gentleman with ginger or light brown hair. He had a green Tshirt on.’’
He said Ali ‘‘seemed to be trying to back away or get away from the situation’’ before he was punched by Stokes.
The court heard he identified Stokes to police officers, who then arrested the cricketer.
Jurors have been told Stokes first hit Hale, knocking him to the ground, before rendering Ali unconscious in the punch seen by Spure.
Ali was taken to hospital by ambulance, doctors noting that he had suffered a fracture to the medial orbital wall on the left side of his face.
His left eye was swollen and he had a laceration above his eyebrow, a cracked tooth and bruising to his head.
Hale cycled to hospital, where he was found to have bruising and a 4cm laceration consistent with blunt trauma.
Ali is alleged to have threatened Stokes’ teammate, Alex Hales, with a bottle during the incident, while Hale broke off a metal pole from a nearby road sign after being allegedly knocked out by Stokes. — BPA