One of four police officers accused of affray over a Belfast kebab shop melee has insisted he was trying to “reason with” a man at the centre of the violent incident.
The claim came as the four offices all gave evidence at Belfast Crown Court on Thursday. The jury heard how the police officer “was concerned it was escalating and getting out of control”.
All four officers – who were off duty at the time of the incident in the City Kitchen eatery on High Street – claimed they acted in self-defence and that the force they used was necessary and proportionate.
Victoria Bell, 39, Dean McCallum, 37, Mark Fulham, 37, and Taylor Annett, 25, whose addresses were given c/o PSNI headquarters in east Belfast, all deny the charge of affray.
The incident occurred in the early hours of January 8, 2022 and it’s the Crown’s case that a male customer, Graham McCullough, entered the kebab shop and whilst waiting on his food he witnessed and heard an interaction between the four defendants and a man wearing a red hat sitting on his own at another table.
Concerned about the interaction, Mr McCullough intervened which resulted in a fracas breaking out and the PSNI being called to the scene. The first officer called to give evidence during the third day of the trial at Belfast Crown Court was Dean McCallum. He confirmed that he and his co-accused had been socialising and had gone to the City Kitchen for food after a night’s drinking.
Describing the mood between him and his friends as “jovial” in the kebab shop, McCallum was asked by defence barrister Ian Turkington KC when he first became aware of Mr McCullough.
He replied: “I noticed he was looking at us, I thought he looked a bit agitated.”
McCallum said he couldn’t recall the context of the conversation with the man in the red hat but there was “no malice offered to him”.
He was then asked about the initial interaction with Mr McCullough and McCallum said “he shouted over towards us …something like ‘leave him alone’ and it was in an aggressive tone. I was taken aback and surprised by why he was saying that to us”.
McCallum said he told Mr McCullough to ‘calm down’ as they were ‘just having a conversation’ with the man in the red hat. CCTV of the incident was then played and McCallum was asked to comment on what happened.
He said that after Mr McCullough pushed one of his friends, he tried to take control of his arm “so that he wouldn’t assault anybody else” and was “trying to reason with him so it wouldn’t go any further”.
Mr McCullough then headbutted McCallum twice, others in the group became involved and, according to McCallum, efforts were made to restrain Mr McCullough and “reason” with him.
Telling the jury Mr McCullough was “aggressive and becoming more and more violent”, McCallum said “at this point I was concerned it was escalating and getting out of control”.
McCallum said that during the struggle he “issued strikes” to “try and take the fight” out of Mr McCullough – who was subsequently brought to the ground by the group of colleagues.
Whilst Mr McCullough was prone, McCallum accepted he had his knee on his back “to try and keep him down” and said he feared there would be a risk of further violence.
When asked by Mr Turkington if he told Mr McCullough that he and his group were police officers, McCallum said he didn’t. Saying his “sole focus” was to restrain Mr McCullough, McCallum added: “There are many people who dislike the police, particularly in Northern Ireland … and sometimes that can worsen the situation.”
Under cross-examination by Crown barrister Kate McKay, she suggested to McCallum that what happened was a “drunken brawl” and that at certain points he was not acting in self-defence.
Rejecting this, McCallum said: “I was defending myself and I was in fear of further violence.”
The second officer to give evidence was Victoria Bell.
When she was asked by Mr Turkington what her involvement was, Bell said “I was trying to help my friends restrain a man that had just been violent to two of my friends”.
Bell said that during a “grapple” she was “face-palmed quite heavily” then punched by Mr McCullough.
She was also asked about what happened when Mr McCullough’s girlfriend entered the kebab shop and Bell said the other woman ran in, that her “teeth were gritted” and that she was “aggressive”.
Bell said she told the other woman to ‘stay out of it’ and that she was grabbed by the hair which was “painful”.
Accepting that at one point they were both grabbing each other by the hair, Bell said the other woman assaulted her friends, that she was “relentless” and that she tried to restrain her and told her repeatedly to ‘calm down’.
Bell was also involved in the struggle with Mr McCullough and when she was asked by Mr Turkington about her use of force, she said she believed it was necessary and was used to defend herself and her colleagues from a “vicious assault”.
When Mark Fullam was called to the witness stand, he said the incident in City Kitchen left him “shocked” and “in fear”.
During the struggle with Mr McCullough, Fullam – who at one point was pushed to the ground – can be seen on the CCTV footage punching him in the lower back area several times. Describing Mr McCullough as “extremely strong”, Fullam said his strikes had little effect.
He also told the jury that despite Mr McCullough’s partner striking him in the face several times, he did not retaliate but he tried to “keep her away from the rest of the guys and to stop her assaulting anyone else”.
When Ms McKay suggested to Fullam that he was “part of a melee, a drunken brawl where you were all out of control”, he replied “I absolutely disagree with that”.
The fourth and final officer who gave evidence was Taylor Annett who told the jury he sustained a broken nose in the incident. Saying Mr McCullough “assaulted every single one of us”, Annett said the actions he took were in a bid to “de-escalate” the situation.
Confirming he punched Mr McCullough in the back several times, Annett said he was “trying to defend myself and my friends and trying to stop me from being assaulted”.
Annett added that whilst he and his friends were trying to restrain Mr McCullough, he was “actively trying to break free and assault us”.
Like his three co-accused, Annett rejected the Crown’s suggestion that the force he used was disproportionate and excessive.
At hearing