Xtra Time Web Desk: English cricketer Ben Stokes faced court today over an ugly brawl in a Bristol nightclub last year. The British all-rounder allegedly made ‘fun’ of Kai Barry and William O’Connor’s mannerisms outside the Mbargo Club in the Clifton Triangle area of the city.
The Bristol Crown Court heard today that Stokes imitated the men’s ‘camp behavior’ with arm gestures and then flicked a cigarette at them.
Stokes’ mocking of the men in a ‘derogatory way’ happened after he allegedly attacked two men moments before inside the club.
The cricketer allegedly Ryan Ali, 28, and Ryan Hale, 27, at the club in September last year.
‘He knocked Mr Hale unconscious and then – after time to pause for thought, to calm – he did exactly the same to Mr Ali,’ prosecutor Nicholas Corsellis told the court.
Corsellis also told the court that Stokes’ behavior that night went ‘well beyond acting in self defence or defence of another’.
‘Mr Stokes’s behaviour outside the nightclub sets an important tone for what happened that night,’ Corsellis said, as reported by the BBC.
‘He was clearly frustrated and annoyed. He took to acting in a provocative and offensive way.’
Corsellis said Stokes allegedly took out his frustrations on the two gay men after he was denied reentry to the club.
But Barry and O’Connor said last year that Stokes had protected them from a homophobic attack.
‘We were so grateful to Ben for stepping in to help. He was a real hero,’ O’Connor said at the time.
‘If Ben hadn’t intervened, it could have been a lot worse for us.’
The pair had apparently already met Stokes inside the club earlier in the night. Stokes bought the men Jager Bombs and chatted to them even though the men did not know he was a famous cricketer.
The trial continues in Bristol.