Ben Stokes trial - latest updates: Cricketer says he was 'talking to God' in CCTV footage
Ben Stokes has told his trial for punching two people in the street outside a nightclub that he was not shouting in anger at a bouncer moments before the alleged attack — and may in fact have been talking to God.
The 27-year-old England cricketer is accused of punching Ryan Hale, 27, and Ryan Ali, 28, during an alleged brawl in the Clifton Triangle area of Bristol on 25 September last year.
Stokes, an all-rounder who plays for Durham, is jointly accused of affray alongside Ali. Mr Hale was acquitted of the same charge by the jury of six men and six women on the direction of the judge on Thursday.
Giving evidence for a second day, Stokes insisted footage recorded on CCTV outside the Mbargo nightspot did not show him shouting and pointing angrily at bouncer Andrew Cunningham after the doorman had refused him entry, then refused to shake his hand.
"I don't think you can tell if I'm angry," Stokes insisted under cross-examination.
Who is who
Ben Stokes - Cricketer accused of punching Ryan Hale and Ryan Ali
Ryan Ali - Jointly accused of affray alongside Stokes
Ryan Hale - Acquitted of affray
Kai Barry and William O'Connor - Gay couple who Stokes insists he stepped in to protect
James Anderson, Jake Ball and Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett and Jonny Bairstow - Teammates of Stokes
Andrew Cunningham - Door supervisor at the Mbargo nightclub
Mark Spure - Off-duty police community support officer who told court Stokes had been 'main aggressor'
When Nicholas Corsellis, prosecuting, asked what Stokes had in fact been looking at, he said: "I might just be looking at the night sky."
Mr Corsellis said: "Who were you speaking to when you were looking at the night sky?"
Stokes replied: "God?"
Mr Corsellis asked: "Mr Stokes, you are just in front of the jury, trying to cover up your actions. You know you were angry and this CCTV was you looking angry, isn't it?"
Stokes answered: "No."
He told the jury he would have had at least 10 drinks that night - a bottle of beer after the game, two or three pints back at the hotel with a meal and five or six vodka and lemonades while out in Bristol.
He said he "potentially had some Jaegerbombs" at the club, in addition to the beer and vodka.
The cricketer said he intervened because Ali and his friend, Ryan Hale, were directing homophobic abuse at two gay men, William O'Connor and Kai Barry, but he said he could not remember what the words were.
He told the court he had not mocked or been homophobic towards Mr Barry and Mr O'Connor and said he could not remember flicking his cigarette butt at them.
Stokes also denied making a comment about Mr Cunningham's gold teeth, and said he told him: "Come on mate, I've got s*** tattoos as well."
"You were asked yesterday by Mr Cole was there any stage in the incident you were enraged?" Mr Corsellis asked.
Stokes replied: "Throughout this whole incident my whole focus was where Mr Ali was and where Mr Hale was, from the moment I was verbally threatened and my friend Alex was run at with a glass bottle."
Mr Corsellis asked: "Were you enraged?" Stokes replied: "No, at this time my sole focus was to protect myself."
Mr Corsellis asked: "However this incident started, when you saw Mr Ali had a bottle and that he was threatening to Alex Hales and hit Kai Barry on the shoulder, you decided to get involved and after you had been on the ground and he [Mr Ali] disarmed you thought, 'I am going to show you what violence is' and you thought, 'I am going to retaliate and I am going to punish you and hit you out of revenge'. Is that not the truth?"
Stokes replied: "Absolutely not."
Mr Corsellis asked: "Is it what we see on the footage - an angry man who has lost all control?"
The prosecutor asked Stokes what he had said to Ali and Mr Hale prior to the confrontation and what they had said in reply.
Stokes insisted Ali told him to "Shut the f*** up or I'll bottle you" after he told him to stop verbally abusing Mr O'Connor and Mr Barry.
Mr Corsellis asked: "Was it the case that you decided in the state you were in you were going to seek confrontation with Mr Ali and Mr Hale because that's what you wanted to do?"
Stokes replied: "Absolutely not."
Mr Corsellis asked Stokes about the footage recorded by student Max Wilson, which showed part of the alleged fight in which Alex Hales can repeatedly be heard shouting "Stokes".
"Was he shouting at you because everybody wanted you to stop," Mr Corsellis asked.
Stokes said he did not hear Mr Hales calling his name or trying to hold him back from confronting Ali.
Nicholas Corsellis, prosecuting, asked Stokes to tell the jury of six men and six women what homophobic abuse he heard shouted at Mr Barry and Mr O'Connor.
"As I said, I can't recollect anything specific but I'm very clear that the words being used were of a homophobic nature," Stokes said.
Mr Corsellis asked: "On the day of your arrest you were saying it was homophobic abuse. You had your solicitor draft a letter where it was amplified to nasty homophobic abuse.
"It has been nine months since the incident. You have, I'm sure, thought of this constantly. Please can you help the jury of what you mean and what was said?"
Stokes replied: "I can't remember specific words, no."
Mr Corsellis asked: "Is the case that nasty homophobic abuse was not being cast towards Mr O'Connor and Mr Barry?"
The footage recorded on the CCTV camera outside Mbargo was played to Stokes.
Mr Corsellis suggested to Stokes he had been angry, shouted and pointed at Mr Cunningham after the bouncer refused to shake his hand.
"I don't think you can tell if I'm angry," Stokes replied.
When the prosecutor asked what Stokes was looking at, he said: "I might just be looking at the night sky."
Mr Corsellis said: "Who were you speaking to when you were looking at the night sky?"
Stokes replied: "God?"
Mr Corsellis asked: "Mr Stokes, you are just in front of the jury, trying to cover up your actions. You know you were angry and this CCTV was you looking angry, isn't it?"
Asked if he was telling the truth about the amount of alcohol he had on the night of the fight, he "could have had a few Jaegerbombs" inside Mbargo, in addition to the beer and vodka he previously said he had.
Now he is talking about his tattoos, admitting the three lions on his back "could have been done better."
The doorman of the club, Mr Cunningham, said Stokes abused him by telling him he had "s*** tattoos," but Stokes said it was "banter" rather than abuse.
Stokes says he "would not offer £300 to get back to even the best club," denying claims he offered £60 and then £300 to get back into the Mbargo in the Clifton Triangle area of Bristol.
Yesterday, Stokes told the court he felt "under threat" at all times when he knocked two men unconscious during a fight near a nightclub.
He denied claims he mocked two gay men, Kai Barry and William O'Connor, outside the Mbargo nightclub and flicked a cigarette butt at them.
Instead, he insisted he had stepped in to protect Mr Barry and Mr O'Connor after hearing his friends, Ryan Hale and Ryan Ali - who had a glass bottle - shout homophobic abuse at them.
