DAY3: TRIAL 2: CARDIFF / VILLA FANS /ON TRIAL AT CROWN COURT
They are on trial at Cardiff Crown Court / All defendants have pleaded not guilty.
At 7pm on the evening of 12th August 2017, 20 Villa fans pulled up outside the Cornwall Public House.
Liz Day (Court Reporter)
Thursday 1st November 2018
Post football match brawl accused claims he was defending people in local pub from violent Aston Villa supporters
A man accused of violent disorder told a police officer he should have thanked him for defending people in his local pub, a court heard.
Robert Moore, who is on trial at Cardiff Crown Court, attended the police station voluntarily following an incident at The Cornwall pub in Grangetown on August 12 last year.
Asked if he thought hitting a man four times was “proportionate”, he replied: “Yes, he would have hit me.
“His friends would have come in and beaten innocent people. You should be thanking me.”
Moore and fellow Cardiff City fan Dominic Burgess are on trial along with Aston Villa fans Steven Fowler and Paul Sweeney.
In his police interview, Moore described The Cornwall as his local pub and said he had been drinking there most weekends for 25 years.
He said it was just before 7pm when he heard “a commotion” and became aware people were getting “beaten up” outside.
Moore told officers: “I could see a gang of blokes. The Aston Villa supporters came chucking bottles.”
He said he was standing by the side door and went into the foyer “just to have a look”, but got pushed back into the pub.
Moore told police one man threw a bottle at him, while another punched him, so he punched back.
He said: “Another person came in shouting and screaming like a man possessed. He came in all guns blazing. Jumping up and down. Just being a general d***head.”
Moore stated he heard that man shout: “Come on you Welsh c***s.”
He added: “These guys were idiots hell bent on trouble. I didn’t want my local pub to be wrecked. I had family and friends nearby and I wasn’t having it. I hit him to get him out.”
Moore accepted hitting the man four times. The interviewing officer said the CCTV showed the man had not thrown any punches.
The defendant replied: “I just thought: ‘Any second now, he’s going to go for me.’ He was bouncing around like a thug.
“He’s come in shouting and screaming. I’m not going to buy him a pint. It was dog-eat-dog. It was either him or me. He was about to hit me and I didn’t give him the chance.”
Moore said he felt “appalled” by what he had seen and wanted to defend himself and the pub.
Asked why he did not call the police, he replied: “They wouldn’t have been there in time.”
Burgess was also interviewed at Cardiff Bay Police Station. He told police he was about to get the train back to Bridgend with a friend when he saw a minibus pull up outside the pub.
He said: “I have never been in anything like that before in my life. I was fighting for my life.”
The officer suggested it looked from the CCTV like he was approaching the group of Aston Villa fans and applauding.
Burgess denied that, but said he did remember saying: “What are you all doing?”
He added: “All I can say is I had nothing to do with this. I’m not a fighter. I’m a peacekeeper. I’m not a violent person. What you are thinking happened, I’m not part of it.”
Burgess was shown the CCTV footage and asked why he took a “fighting stance”, he replied: “That guy is not there just to talk to me.”
He said he got knocked down three times and questioned about why he did not run away, he said: “I wish I had. I got a pummelling there.”
The defendant suggested a man on the footage was attacking him, but the police officer pointed out Burgess was advancing and the man was backing away.
He replied: “I’d never been in a fight like that before in my life, so I didn’t know the rules.”
Moore, 51, from Warwick Street in Cardiff, and Burgess, 36, from Woodland Avenue in Porthcawl, deny using or threatening unlawful violence.
Fowler, 49, from Cottage Lane in Sutton Coldfield, and Sweeney, 32, from Knightcote Drive in Solihull, who gave “no comment” police interviews, deny the same charge.
The trial continues.
Fowler Villa fan
DAY2: TRIAL 2: CARDIFF / VILLA FANS / ON TRIAL AT CROWN COURT
They are on trial at Cardiff Crown Court / All defendants have pleaded not guilty.
At 7pm on the evening of 12th August 2017, 20 Villa fans pulled up outside the Cornwall Public House.
Liz Day (Court Reporter)
DAY 2:
Wednesday 31st October 2018
Toddler left terrified when rival football fans 'started throwing bottles'
A toddler was left terrified when rival football fans started throwing bottles at each other as she and her father walked to their local shop.
The two-year-old girl and her father Rhodri Williams were near their home when the fight broke out at The Cornwall pub in Grangetown on August 12 last year.
Giving evidence at Cardiff Crown Court, Mr Williams said: “It makes you feel unsafe in your community when things like this happen.”
Aston Villa fans Steven Fowler and Paul Sweeney, along with Cardiff City fans, deny violent disorder and are on trial.
Speaking through a Welsh interpreter, the witness said he was going to the shop with his young daughter when he saw a minibus pull up outside the pub.
Prosecutor James Wilson asked: “Did you see anyone get out of the minibus?”
Mr Williams replied: “From the second the bus parked up, a group of men ran out of it.”
He told the court he thought there were between eight and 12 men on the minibus, who ran straight for the pub.
The witness said that group attacked another group of men, who were smoking outside The Cornwall.
He said: “I saw a lot of fighting, but what I remember specifically was a man on all fours and a group around him kicking him in the ribs.”
The court heard the man was on the ground just outside the main door to the pub.
Questioned about what he heard, Mr Williams replied: “I remember the sound of bottles being thrown, of smashing glass.”
The witness said he picked his daughter up and crossed the road.
He told the court there was a car in the middle of the road and the driver was sounding the horn continuously.
Mr Williams added: “One of the men who came out of the minibus asked them why they were doing it and threatened them.”
The witness said the minibus passed him as it left the scene, while he was on the phone to the police.
Asked when he made the decision to call 999, he said as soon as things “kicked off”. He stayed on the phone to the police until the bus left the scene and described where he could see it going.
Mr Wilson asked: “Can you tell the jury how you felt during this incident?”
The witness replied: “It was in broad daylight in front of my child. This is a pub where I go sometimes with my mother to have a meal.
“It’s a respectable place and the proprietors are hardworking and fine people. Of course it has an effect on the livelihood of the people who run the pub.”
He said his daughter was “scared” during the incident and he picked her up and held her while he was on the phone to the police.
Fowler, 49, from Cottage Lane in Sutton Coldfield, and Sweeney, 32, from Knightcote Drive in Solihull, deny using or threatening unlawful violence.
Both Cardiff Fans deny the same charge.
The trial continues.
The case is before a jury of six men and six women and is expected to last for about two weeks. The trial continues.
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