Thursday 9 August 2018 13:32, UK
Ryan Hale told police he believed Ben Stokes "could have killed him" in an incident outside a local nightclub, Bristol Crown Court heard on Thursday.
Stokes, 27, is on trial for affray, along with 28-year-old Ryan Ali after the men were charged over an incident in the Clifton Triangle area of the city on September 25 last year.
England all-rounder Stokes is alleged to have knocked Hale out during the fracas near the Mbargo nightclub.
Both Stokes and Ali deny the joint charge.
The court heard Hale's formal police interview on Thursday morning, with Stokes scheduled to give evidence later in the day - the trial is expected to last between five and seven days.
Latest on Ben Stokes' trial from Sky News
Hale told officers: "I had a constant headache which I'm probably going to go and get checked out again. It's the emotions of it all. The fact I've been attacked. Watching the video was shocking.
"I'm a dad. He could have killed me. I don't know why he didn't stop. You hear about it all the time - he could have.
"Just the way he was acting in the video, he could have beaten the living hell out of me. It's shocking to see someone doing that to someone who didn't do anything wrong. It's quite shocking to think that I've been put in a situation like that."
Hale, a former soldier, told police he, Ali and another man had been out celebrating his promotion at work and left Mbargo when the nightclub closed.
He said he and Ali were walking up Queen's Road with two gay men, William O'Connor and Kai Barry, when Stokes suddenly came running towards them.
"I remember two guys coming from the road and I remember saying 'I don't want no trouble'. I don't remember which order it was in. 'I don't want no trouble'," he said.
"Laid out on the floor. I don't really remember how it all happened from there."
Hale told police that a month before the incident he had suffered a mini-stroke - caused by an undiagnosed hole in the heart - that had affected his short-term memory.
"I'd had stuff to drink, I don't know how much, a lot. From the movement on the video, I am not acting like a drunk idiot," he said.
He said that as they walked up the road after leaving Mbargo there had been "banter" between him and Ali and Mr O'Connor and Mr Barry.
"The first thing he did was put his hand on my k***. I'm an ex-soldier, to me it's banter," he said.
"It did not offend me at all. He was pinching my a*** and I grabbed him and said 'You're coming home with me'. He said 'Just because I'm gay doesn't mean I'm going home with any other bloke'. He probably thought I wasn't going to be like that. I was like, it's fine, no problem, and just carried on walking."
Hale said that initially he thought Stokes had targeted him first but the video shows the cricketer going for his friend Ali.
"I remember saying 'I don't want any trouble'. Then he attacked me and Ryan (Ali) intervenes but clearly it was the other way round," Hale said.
"I just remember them crossing the road and there was a commotion. I don't know why it happened. I am pulling him off because he is going to cane his face in and the gay guys are trying to pull me away.
"I am telling him to stop. He is having a go at Ryan and I am trying to stop any fight, to stop him getting hurt. That's the moment I get smashed to the face."
Hale told police that he saw Stokes' England team-mate Alex Hales "stamp" on the face of Ali as he lay on the floor.
"They were kicking him in the face," he told officers during the interview, in which he had been cautioned but not arrested.
"I saw Hales with a flat foot, stamping on his face. I said 'Oi, oi, oi'. Hales runs off across the road. I grabbed Stokes, he is a big lad, and [I said] 'Leave it'."
Hale said Mr O'Connor and Mr Barry pulled him to help him up.
"I was the innocent bystander getting assaulted brutally for nothing, standing there with open fists being smacking around the place," Hale said. "There's no self-defence and he isn't defending anyone else."
The court also heard that Nottinghamshire batsman Hales told police he did not witness the alleged fight.
But jurors at Bristol Crown Court have seen CCTV footage showing Mr Hales, who was never arrested or charged in connection with the incident, with Stokes and kicking a man on the ground.
When she tells him to leave Stokes, who has been placed in a police vehicle, Mr Hales replies: "I feel bad. He's my best friend. I saw him after everything happened."
The bodycam footage, shot by PC Stacey Alway, heard the officer walking over to Stokes and telling him: "A guy over there was covered in blood and I've been told you punched him."
Stokes replies: "Because he was abusing my two friends for being gay."
He can be heard asking PC Alway: "Is there going to be any sort of cameras around here? Have those two other guys gone? What about two other lads - gay guys?"
Mr Hales tells PC Alway he did not witness the alleged fight and he says "I came after you guys turned up."
When she tells him to leave Stokes, who has been placed in a police vehicle, Mr Hales replies: "I feel bad. He's my best friend. I saw him after everything happened."
Mr Hales says to Stokes: "I don't want to go. Are you sure? I turned up after the whole thing."
In the police car, Stokes appears to mouth at Mr Hales something like "Come with me" or "You're with me".
Stokes can also be heard asking PC Alway to loosen the handcuff on his right hand because it was too tight and he had undergone three operations on it.
