After watching CCTV footage of Jerseyman Mark Brown (28) head-butting and kicking another man, the Assize jury took nearly three hours to decide that he had not acted in self-defence.An amateur boxer who was tried alongside Brown was cleared of affray, which related to the brawl at around 2.30 am on 23 March.
The jury of four women and eight men unanimously accepted that Sean Durkan (23), of Limerick, had fought in a bid to rescue his friend and had acted reasonably.To prove affray, the prosecution had to show that the two men had fought in such a way that they caused passers-by to feel intimidated and that they had not acted in self-defence or in the defence of another.Durkan was shown to throw a volley of punches at a man who was alleged to have been one of five who chased Brown and then barged him to the floor in a hedge.Brown, who has played football for Jersey and Exeter City, had claimed that there was an incident outside Liquid nightclub involving an unidentified man, who he claimed had threatened to stab him.
The defendant told the court that he had tried to run away but had been caught by the pack of men chasing him adjacent to the Esplanade car park.
Brown said he had been tackled to the floor and then pinned down by a number of people who punched him.Crown Advocate Conrad Yates told the jury that Brown had lashed out in a revenge attack against those who he thought had chased him.
He said that the defendant could not have been that disorientated because he was able to try to run away twice when the the police arrived at the scene.Advocate Dionne Gilbert, for Durkan, said her client had done what any reasonable person would have done.Brown is due to appear back in the Royal Court on Friday for a date to be fixed to sentencing.
