Interviews with four off-duty police officers accused of affray in a Belfast kebab shop have been disclosed to a jury.
All four admitted being drunk during an incident in City Kitchen on High Street.
Victoria Bell (39), Dean McCallum (37), Mark Fulham (37) and Taylor Annett (25), whose addresses were given c/o PSNI headquarters in Belfast, all deny the charge of affray.
On the second day of the trial at Belfast Crown Court, the jury heard evidence regarding interviews conducted a month after the incident.
All four maintained they acted in self-defence after a fight broke out, with the three male off-duty officers all accepting they struck a male customer several times whilst trying to restrain him.
Each defendant also admitted during interview that at no point did they reveal they were in the PSNI.
It’s the Crown’s case that a customer, Graham McCullough, entered the kebab shop and whilst waiting on his food he witnessed an interaction between the four defendants and a man sitting on his own at another table.
Concerned, Mr McCullough intervened which resulted in a fight breaking out and the PSNI being called to the scene.
During the incident, Mr McCullough was surrounded and put to the ground by McCallum, Fulham and Annett whilst Bell became engaged in a struggle with Mr McCullough’s partner.
All four officers were interviewed about the incident on February 11 2022 and their interviews were read to the jury on Wednesday.
During his interview, Dean McCallum said his group has been out celebrating his colleague Mark Fullam’s birthday and he had consumed between five and six pints and a cocktail.
He said that as they were eating their food a male - Mr McCullough - shouted over to his group something like ‘leave him alone’ then became aggressive.
McCallum claimed he responded by telling Mr McCullough to ‘calm down ... you have got the wrong end of the stick’ and that he recalled being headbutted by Mr McCullough.
He said Mark Fullam and Taylor Annett then got up from their tablet and that a struggle broke out between them and Mr McCullough.
McCallum admitted that during this part of the incident he punched Mr McCullough several times to the face and was “trying to take the fight out of him”.
Captured on CCTV, Mr McCullough was then brought to the ground and McCallum accepted whilst in this position, he administered further punches.
McCallum claimed that after being headbutted, he defended himself and that his ‘focus’ was on “restraining this individual who had assaulted me and my friends and I didn’t want to get assaulted further”.
Describing what happened as a “messy scrap”, McCallum also accepting kneeling on Mr McCullough when he was prone.
He also claimed his actions during the incident were to “prevent any further assaults and to stop the situation from escalating any further”.
Mark Fullam described himself as being ‘intoxicated’ in the kebab shop.
He said he felt the situation was ‘escalating’, that he became involved and that he stuck Mr McCullough “with a closed fist” and told him to stop resisting.
Accepting he did not tell Mr McCullough that he was a police officer, Fullam said “he was getting the better of me and everyone else”.
He also admitted striking Mr McCullough as he lay on the ground and that he felt his actions were ‘justified’ as he ‘tried to take control of the situation.’
In his police interview, Taylor Annett also claimed that after McCallum was headbutted, he “got up to de-escalate the situation” and “prevent any further assaults taking place”.
Claiming Mr McCullough’s “aggression seemed to be getting more and more increased”, Annett was accused during the interview of repeatedly punching Mr McCullough to the ribs.
Saying he was traumatised after being punched in the face, Annett said he believed his actions were justified and proportionate.
When she was interviewed, Victoria Bell said she witnessed the incident.
She told police a struggle then ensued between her and Mr McCullough’s partner, that she defended herself after her hair was pulled.
She also said it was clear that McCallum was assaulted first and that the force she used during the incident was necessary.
Bell added in her interview that if she was sober she would have reacted in a different way and said “if I was on duty I would have used a baton”.
At hearing.