OFFICER ‘SAW BLOOD ON PAVEMENT’
A POLICE officer who attended an incident at a Coyote Ugly bar, during which bouncers are accused of attacking rugby star Shane Williams and his friends, said she saw blood on the pavement.
In a statement read out at Cardiff Crown Court, PC Kathryn Williams said she was on patrol in Cardiff city centre on December 2, 2017, when, at about 10pm, her attention was caught by a man waving urgently across the road.
The man said there was an unconscious man on the ground at the rear of The Philharmonic.
She said: “I could see a male person being attended to by a number of people. He was unresponsive. A person was administering first aid and said he worked for the NHS and was a community first responder.
“I could not see any injury to the male but could see blood on the pavement near his head. I spoke to a man named Rhodri Williams who said the unconscious male was his friend Dean Williams.
“He said they had been in Coyote Ugly and had been asked to leave by door staff, and were ejected from the premises. Dean Williams was conveyed to hospital for medical assistance.”
The door staff involved – Dean Flowers, aged 32, of Clos-y-carlwm, Thornhill, Cardiff; Haydn Morgan, 42, of Herbert Street, Bridgend; and Dave Wing, 53, of Shearman Place, Grangetown, Cardiff – all deny affray.
A jury heard on Monday how Shane Williams’s brother Dean was left unconscious after the alleged incident which followed a Wales v South Africa match at the Principality Stadium.
The former Wales and Ospreys winger was out with his brother and friends Rhodri Williams and Stewart Herbert in Cardiff after the game.
They were drinking at the Coyote Ugly nightclub on St Mary Street just before 10pm when someone approached the group and tried to butt Dean Williams.
After seeing the incident door staff at the venue ejected the four-man group from the premises.
In court, Mr Herbert told prosecutor Clare Wilks he had been drinking from about 1pm to 1.30pm. “I had eight beers maybe,” he said.
Mr Herbert said doormen came over after the butt attempt, and he described the situation as “getting intense quickly”.
He said: “We were ushered towards the fire exit. We hadn’t done anything and this gentleman went to headbutt my friend out of the blue and it felt heavy-handed.” Kevin Seal, representing Dean Flowers, asked Mr Herbert about a CCTV clip in which Shane, Dean and Rhodri Williams are heard shouting and swearing at the door staff.
He said: “They wouldn’t be proud of that but they are aggrieved about the way they were ejected.”
Mr Seal added: “You go to a pub, you carry on drinking there, and you go to The Philharmonic and you meet Rhodri Williams and you have some more to drink. Why did you leave The Philharmonic?”
Mr Herbert said: “We were asked to leave by door staff.”
He added that he believed “Shane with all the attention he gets is not always welcome”.
Mr Seal took Mr Herbert through CCTV footage of the incident outside the club. He said: “Are you trying to hit this doorman?”
The witness said: “Absolutely not at all.”
Mr Seal added: “I am saying to you the actions towards that bouncer are aggressive. You’re not being a peacemaker.”
Mr Herbert responded: “At that point, things have escalated and my friend (Shane Williams) is against the wall with three bouncers against him.
“I either stood back and did nothing, or I acted aggressively, which I don’t accept, or I do what the CCTV shows and act in a peaceful way.”
Heath Edwards, representing Dave Wing, claimed his client said to Mr Herbert after the altercation: “Why didn’t you just walk away? I let you in for free.”
Mr Herbert said: “I don’t recall the walking away part but but I recall him saying he let us in for free.”
Mr Edwards said Wing had said it in a pleasant voice but the witness said: “He pushed me as he said it, it wasn’t in a perfectly calm scenario.”
The trial continues.