Dad ‘beat up rival coach’ at under-9s soccer game
A FATHER accused of beating up a coach at his son’s football match told a court he ‘punched his way out’ after being attacked.
Martin Ogazi, 39, allegedly left Stewart Collins nursing a broken nose and black eyes.
But the father said he had been set upon by Mr Collins, his wife Claire and sister Tracey.
The alleged attack happened on the touchline of an under-9s game between Eversley United and Danson Sports FC. When Ogazi’s son, an Eversley player, committed a foul, Ogazi is said to have shouted ‘give him more of that’.
Mr Collins, manager of Danson Sports, told Ogazi to stop encouraging his son to hurt the opposition. He said he was polite but was met with a barrage of punches from the defendant. Ogazi told the Old Bailey: ‘At all points in this incident, from the approach of Mr Collins to the end, I was acting in self-defence.’
He claimed Mr Collins was the aggressor, jabbing his finger and reacting angrily to Ogazi pushing his hand away. The defendant said he was attacked from behind by Collins’s wife and sister, was grabbed by the waist and then swung his arms to free himself.
‘ I was being punched and kicked, and I mostly punched my way out,’ he said.
Ogazi is also accused of assaulting the women and attacking another team’s manager who tried to stop the fight, on March 23 last year at Hall Place recreation ground in Bexleyheath, south- east London.
‘Punched and kicked’
Steve Ristow, of Kingsdale Junior FC, said he was watching his team when he heard shouting from another pitch.
He told the court: ‘I saw the defendant strike the woman with his right hand to the head … I then ran towards the incident in an attempt to stop what was going on … I didn’t touch [him] … the defendant said some- thing along the lines of “you as well” and I was struck to the right side of my face.’
The defendant claimed he had accidentally struck Mr Ristow, telling police: ‘I’m innocent and actually I was attacked.’
Ogazi, of Thamesmead, southeast London, denies actual bodily harm and assault by beating. The trial continues.