|
Looking directly at the accused, facing up to five years in jail, the officer told the court: "I’m confident and sure that the defendants are involved in the offences and therefore I proceeded with their prosecution."
The "heavily decorated" soldiers are all from the 2nd Royal Regiment of Fusiliers based at Dhekelia on the island.
They had been celebrating finishing tours of Iraq and Afghanistan and coming home to the UK, when the huge fight broke out at the Bedrock Inn club in the town on February 2 this year.
The bar, one of the most popular in the resort, was turned into a bloodbath as one local was battered with a metal crutch and a soldier was beaten with a baseball bat-type weapon.
Bottles, tables and chairs flew as soldiers fought locals, leaving four people needing hospital treatment.
The Bedrock Inn, a Flintstones-themed bar selling cheap alcohol, is at the clubbing centre of a resort with a dubious reputation for sex, drugs and violence - often involving British tourists.
It is not yet known what sparked the trouble but locals say there is a simmering tension between British soldiers on the island and local men.
After the rape and murder of Danish tour guide Louise Jensen by British servicemen in 1994, the centre of Ayia Napa was declared off-limits to soldiers by military top brass on the island.
But all the accused were “out of bounds” and should not have been at the bar when violence erupted.
The bar owner and a customer were attacked along with two soldiers, including Darren Mason, 28, from Manchester, who suffered a depressed fracture of the skull.
The nine servicemen have all pleaded not guilty ahead of the start of their trial today at Famagusta District Court in Paralimni.
Lance Corporal William Sewell, 21, from Manchester is charged with grievous bodily harm, the most serious charge, malicious damage and breach of the peace.
Lance Corporals David Ramage, 21, from Manchester and Daniel Brayne, 22, from Birmingham face charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm along with malicious damage and breach of the peace.
Damien Heywood, 27, Andy Evans, 21, both Lance Corporals, and Dean Rushton, 21, all from Manchester, Gary Farrell, 23, from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Christopher Wenham, 19, from London and Ashley Hughes, 19, from Birmingham, deny malicious damage and breach of the peace.
An interpreter sat among the soldiers to explain proceedings, held entirely in Greek.
Andreas Charalambous, defending all nine, suggested the arrest of the men was in fact illegal, because Cypriot law had not been followed correctly during the procedure.
And he questioned the identification parade where the complainants picked out the accused.
The soldiers were led into a room individually for the alleged victims to identify, instead of in a line-up.
After the brawl the soldiers returned to base and Mr Charalambous suggested the police had arrested the wrong men.
"I put it to you that the defendants have no relation to the incident."
But Chief Constable Loizou said the soldiers were arrested and identified with the help of British Royal Military Police, following normal procedures.
Around 3,000 British military personnel are stationed in Cyprus at military bases on the island.
An estimated three million British tourists visit the island each summer, many youngsters heading for Ayia Napa, famed for its hedonistic nightlife.
The soldier’s regiment has now returned to the UK and is based at Hounslow in Surrey. The nine accused have not been allowed home.
In a separate case the owner of the bar is suing the soldiers and the UK authorities for £4 million, for physical injuries to himself, damage to his bar and loss of trade.
Major Jim Taylor, the soldier’s commanding officer, was called before Judge Elias Georgiou to promise his men would return to court in the morning as bail was granted.
The case was adjourned until tomorrow when the first eye witnesses to the violence are expected to give evidence. |
