EIGHTIES POP star Shakin’ Stevens, appearing under his real name of Michael Barrett at Ballymena Magistrates Court on a charge of assaulting a press photographer, yesterday accused the man in question, Hugo McNiece, of wanting his “five minutes of fame”.
Giving evidence before Judge Bernie Kelly, Mr Barrett (61) admitted being “very stressed, very tired”. Asked by prosecuting lawyer Jane Allen if he was “annoyed” about being charged, Mr Barrett replied: “I am not annoyed, I am frustrated when you think that one man can cause this mess and cost thousands and thousands and thousands of pounds, and thinks it is all a big joke.”
Mr Barrett claimed that Mr McNiece, in an effort to “show off to his friends”, had “very brazenly” gate-crashed his concert at Ballymena’s Tully Glass Hotel last December.
He said he was “in a very good mood with the audience, and we were all having a very good time”, but that he couldn’t let Mr McNiece take photographs during a live concert as it was not allowed, adding that if he had “not stopped him he would have continued taking terrible photographs”.
He said he lifted the microphone stand in “the spur of the moment” but dismissed as “absolute rubbish” that he had reacted in an “aggressive way”.
The trial continues.