A brawl at the Beach bar left a reveller in need of over 100 stitches after he was glassed in the face, a Supreme Court jury heard on Tuesday.

John Arthur Cook, 22, of Tranquillity Lane, Smith?s has pleaded not guilty to wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm to Neil Carroll on February 19, 2005.

Mr. Carroll ? a quantity surveyor who has been in Bermuda seven years ? told Crown counsel Wayne Caines he was attacked without provocation as he went to check on an intoxicated female friend.

?As Maria was quite drunk, I went across to see if she was okay,? Mr. Carroll said. ?I spoke to Maria and turned to the guy who was speaking with her. As I turned towards him, without provocation, he struck me in the face with a glass bottle he was holding. I remember someone getting involved ? taking me outside and putting me against a wall outside the bar.

?There was a lot of blood coming out of my face. The white shirt I had on was saturated with blood.?

However, defence lawyer Craig Attridge contended that Mr. Carroll had started the fight.

Mr. Carroll said this suggestion was absolutely incorrect.

Mr. Attridge also suggested Mr. Carroll and a couple of guys he was socialising with dragged Cook and punched him to the ground.

?From the time I entered the Beach bar, to the time the guy hit me in the face, I didn?t see anyone fighting or having any arguments, altercations or fights,? Mr. Carroll replied.

Mr. Carroll said he needed over 100 stitches down the left side of his face and had lacerations down his neck.

?I also suffered a fractured eye socket that needed to be repaired,? he said.

Light levels in the room were good, he said, and he recognised his friend Maria from ten feet away. The man who approached Maria was white, ?Portuguese-looking,? and had a mustache, he said.

But Mr. Attridge said Mr. Carroll never told Police in a February 20, 2005 statement that he was hit with a bottle. ?The statement mentions glass in his hand,? Mr. Carroll replied.

Mr. Carroll?s party ? made up of Gregory Reid, Maria Louise Barry and Annaka Rubidge ? had six or seven drinks and dinner at the Pickled Onion until 1 a.m., followed by one or two drinks at the Beach bar, he said.

?I was ?feeling nice? but I was in control of my faculties,? Mr. Carroll said.

Mr. Reid told the jury he came out of the Beach bar bathroom and saw Mr. Carroll?s being punched repeatedly in the face, which was covered in blood.

?I immediately rushed over and grabbed this person in a bear-hug,? Mr. Reid said. ?At this stage someone else punched me repeatedly to my head area.?

When his attack was separated, Mr. Reid went outside where Mr. Carroll?s attacker walked past him down Front Street, he said.

When a Police van arrived at the Beach, Mr. Reid was driven to outside the Emporium building on Front Street where a man he identified as Mr. Carroll?s attacker was arrested.

But under cross-examination, Mr. Reid admitted he did not know how the altercation started, or who instigated it.

Bouncer Ameer Shakir said he saw a scuffle break out between two men inside the Beach bar that night. Two punches connected, he said, but the attacker was placed in a headlock before a third punch was thrown.

?I grabbed his right arm and dragged him outside,? Mr. Shakir said. Back inside, he said he saw ?a white guy who was bleeding profusely. He was bleeding so bad I didn?t know where he was bleeding.?

He escorted the bleeding man outside and went to get some towels but by the time he returned a second scuffle between the two men was about to break out outside the bar.

?At this time, I was able to stand between both of the men and fend the young man off from the bleeding man,? Mr. Shakir said.

The bouncer pointed to Cook as the man who he dragged outside and said he had known him for 10 years.

After returning inside again, he saw a Twisted Tea bottle and a drinking glass with blood around it close to where Mr. Carroll said he was wounded.

The trial continues tomorrow.