By IANS,
Brisbane : Andrew Symonds may have escaped punishment from Cricket Australia (CA), but the pub patron with whom he was involved in a brawl revealed that he was hit in the jaw by the all-rounder.
The 22-year-old, Robert, said the Test star elbowed him in the jaw after he took a photograph of his idol at Brisbane’s Normanby Hotel last week.
He said Symonds then offered to “settle the matter” outside the hotel.
“I was shocked. I was a huge fan,” Robert was quoted as saying in The Sunday Mail. “I’m not any more.”
Robert said he went to the Normanby to have dinner and drinks with his partner and friends.
“I approached him (Symonds) and, although I never asked for his permission, put my arm around him – not aggressively – and took a photo on my phone,” he said.
The photograph was snapped seconds before the alleged altercation. “It was not my intention to offend him, nor was it to upset the group he was drinking with,” Robert said.
“As I took the photo, he turned without saying anything and elbowed me in the jaw. I asked, ‘What was that for? I’m a fan’.”
“He said, ‘I’m here to drink with friends, not deal with arrogant fans’.”
In a statement last week, Symonds said: “A member of the public acted unreasonably towards me while I was with friends, at which time I took steps to remove myself from the situation. I did not in any way provoke this situation.”
Cricket Australia’s public affairs general manager Peter Young said Saturday “consistent witness accounts” led to Symonds being cleared to play.