Footballer Gary Madine ‘hit clubber after drink was thrown at him’

Kyle Bennett said the drink went directly into Madine’s face when they were out in the Paris bar in Sheffield on February 5 last year.

“He didn’t know what was in the glass that’s when Gary stepped forward and punched him,” he told Leeds Crown Court yesterday.

He denied under cross-examination by Ian West, prosecuting, he was lying to help his friend, with whom he shared a house as a lodger.

Madine, 23 of Middlewood Rise, Middlewood, Sheffield, denies inflicting grievous bodily harm to Daniel Beresford on February 5 and an alternative charge of assaulting him causing actual bodily harm.

He also pleads not guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent or the alternative of inflicting grievious bodily harm to another man, Reece Hall, on another night March 11 in Viper room, Sheffield.

Both men were knocked out, Mr Beresford suffering a broken nose and Mr Hall a fractured cheekbone.

The Rovers winger told the jury he was on a night out with Madine and two of Madine’s friends from Newcastle when the incident happened in February last year.

He said they had been to a casino and another bar before going to the Paris Bar and “it was a good night”. Mr Bennett, 23, said he was chatting to the others and noticed Madine becoming distracted and looked to see by what. There was a man standing six or seven feet away who asked in an aggressive tone what he was looking at.

He told the court Madine shrugged as though not sure it was referring to him and stepped aside. The man’s friend stepped in and put his arms out as if to stop the encounter but “then the guy stepped forwards and threw a drink in Gary’s face”.

After the punch the man went down and his friend went over to help him. Madine was asked to leave and the rest of them followed.

The trial continues.