Eleanor Storey, Press Association
Former boxing world champion Joe Cordina was acting on “instinct” when he punched another man outside a service station, a court has heard.
Cordina, 34, a two-time IBF super-featherweight champion, previously pleaded not guilty to two charges of assault by beating against Jamie O’Brien, 33.
A trial at Cardiff Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday heard Cordina punched O’Brien “out of instinct” after an altercation between the pair on the petrol station forecourt.
The court heard Cordina had been filling up his Land Rover before he approached O’Brien, who had been sitting on the pavement near the station exit.
CCTV footage played to the court showed O’Brien proceeding to push Cordina using his shoulder, before Cordina “punched him with sufficient force to knock him to the ground”.
Alex Orndal, prosecuting, said: “It is the Crown case that Cordina has initiated the confrontation.
“Mr O’Brien had his hands in his pocket and did not present a threat.”
The court heard the two men continued to “remonstrate” with one another and exchange blows.
O’Brien, from Pentwyn, has previously pleaded guilty to a charge of assault by beating.
Mr Orndal said: “There comes a point at which Mr O’Brien is entirely restrained by one of the other persons present.
“It is the Crown case that Mr O’Brien no longer presents a threat to Mr Cordina.
“Mr Cordina moved around the person restraining Mr O’Brien and threw a further punch at him – this is the subject of the second charge.”
“Mr Cordina’s actions went beyond lawful self-defence,” he said.
Mr Orndal said Cordina’s defence was that he had struck O’Brien because he “felt threatened”.
He said: “He then said he punched him in the later part of the incident out of instinct, due to Mr O’Brien’s actions.”
The court heard police began to investigate the incident after footage of the altercation outside Pentwyn Service Station in February was circulated online.
Tom Crowther KC, defending, told the court that, prior to the incident, O’Brien had told his sister he “didn’t like” Cordina.
Mr Crowther said she had “expressly raised the possibility” that O’Brien had “sought out” Cordina due to a “vendetta”.
“She also told police that although he and Mr Cordina had boxed together when younger, Mr O’Brien now hated Mr Cordina,” Mr Crowther added.
However, giving evidence, Cordina told the court: “I’ve never met him in my life.”
Cordina said he initially thought O’Brien was a fan who wanted a photograph and described how he was accustomed to being recognised four or five times a day, adding: “I make time for everybody.”
He told the court he had seen O’Brien staring at him while he was filling his car and called him over, but that O’Brien had responded: “You come here.”
He said he had acted in self defence because he felt threatened after O’Brien “barged” him during their initial interaction.
“He had his hands in his pockets, I don’t know what people carry on them these days,” he told the court.
‘Instinctive’
Mr Crowther said Cordina had made an “instinctive decision” to hit O’Brien after being pushed.
He said: “There is a tendency among people, when thinking of those who are well-known, to assume that because they know of them that they know them.
“Anyone with the slightest degree of being in the public eye, call it celebrity, is at risk of an interaction defining them forever.
“There is no suggestion in this case that over the almost 20 years of his career… That he has ever behaved, in any of those unasked for interactions, in a way that has caused concern.”
Cordina told the court it was “pretty much” a certainty that he would risk losing his boxing licence if he received a criminal conviction, and that this “100%” had an impact on how he conducted himself day to day.
On Tuesday, District Judge Charlotte Murphy ruled there was no case to answer in relation to the second charge of assault.
She did not reach a judgment on the first charge and adjourned the trial until Tuesday next week.
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