Clubbers Deny Leading "Chaotic Scenes" And Attack On Doormen

Guilherme Mendes

Two Cambridgeshire men led “chaotic scenes” outside a landmark club, where security staff came under a hail of objects thrown by angry customers, with one doorman stabbed, a court heard today.

Violence erupted outside Club Colosseum, Vauxhall in the early hours after the two defendants and a friend they met up with in London were forcibly ejected when trouble broke out inside.

They are: Guilherme Mendes, 26, of Spring Close, Huntingdon and 25 year-old Elizer Palmer-Lewis, of Goffsmill, Bretton, Peterborough.

Both have pleaded not guilty at Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court to one count each of violent disorder on March 23, last year.

Prosecutor Mr. Andrew Dowden told the jury CCTV shows Mendes taking off his belt and wrapping it around his fist before confronting the door staff with Palmer-Lewis hurling heavy-duty fence blocks in their direction.

“He was throwing very large rubber blocks used to secure temporary fencing and they were whistling past Mr. Mendes' ear towards the bouncers.”

Cross-examining Mendes in the witness box the prosecutor put to him: “You knew Mr. Palmer-Lewis was doing that and you were acting together with him and the people around you to attack those bouncers.

“You were shoulder to shoulder with a man in a bobble hat who had a knife. He's holding a knife in the video.

“You were standing next to him and when he lunged into the bouncers on three occasions.”

Elizer Palmer-Lewis

The court heard the crowd also hurled traffic cones towards the door staff amid claims they had been heavy-handed when dealing with the trouble inside.

A large number of police officers were deployed to calm the scene, with one of them describing Palmer-Lewis as having blood on his hands, t-shirt and footwear.

Factory metal worker Mendes told the jury he and Palmer-Lewis had driven to east London to meet up with a friend named 'Idir' and they travelled to the club by taxi, where they met more people.

The prosecution say there was “tension” inside the club between the defendants and their friends and another group and trouble broke out in the early hours.

“I saw a lot of movement and Idir was covering his eye, I think he was hit,” explained Mendes. “People were pointing at the guy who hit my friend.

“We wanted to grab him and tell security, but he ran off and the bouncers grabbed all of us, about ten of them.”

Mendes said he was taken out and was walking towards a bus stop when he looked back and saw 'Idir' lying unconscious outside the club entrance.

“I ran to save him, I needed to get my friend out of there.”

CCTV shows Mendes removing his belt and wrapping it around his fist as he approached the door staff. “I did that to protect myself. They were getting closer and more and more aggressive.”

He also claimed seeing a can of CS gas in a bouncer's hand and an iron bar in another's.

Mr. Dowden told him: “You were on the front line and aggressive towards the bouncers.”

The prosecutor also suggested Mendes deliberately did not tell police about the friends he was with to protect them. “You were all in it together.”

The CCTV also shows Palmer-Lewis brawling with somebody on the the pavement and Mendes climbing a fence to get closer to the door staff.

“I was trying to help my friend,” he explained. “I was not thinking about everything that was going on around me.”

Trial continues............