A pub owner has told a court that a customer who claims to have been crippled for life by falling drunk from a bar stool, was standing at the bar rather than using a stool at the time. "He was stood at the bar and I cannot recall him sitting on a stool," said Mr Michael Newell, former owner of the Copper Room bar in Cookstown, Co Tyrone.
He was giving evidence in the compensation case brought against him in the High Court, Belfast by Mr William Joy (37), from Princess Avenue, Cooks town, who has been confined to a wheelchair since he fell and broke his neck in 1989.
Mr Joy claims the landlord was negligent by serving him alcohol when he was drunk and allowing him to sit on a bar stool in a drunken condition.
The court has already heard that Mr Joy had consumed 13 vodkas and four pints of beer before he went into the Copper Room. It was alleged that he was served another vodka and orange as he sat on a stool with his head lying on the bar counter.
But Mr Newell, who sold the pub in 1991, said he could not recall seeing any drink on the counter.
He said he was called from the lounge by barman Mr Maurice Murphy and saw Mr Joy lying along soft seats on the floor. "There was no stool on the floor and no sign of any furniture being disturbed. I had no reason to suppose that he had fallen from a stool."
Mr Newell said there was no sign Mr Joy had injured himself. "I had no fears about his condition. My idea was to let him sit on the seat and sleep it off.
"At closing time Mr Murphy and myself helped him outside to a summer seat and he was driven home."
He said if a customer fell asleep on a bar stool he would "give them a poke and waken them up". The hearing was adjourned until tomorrow.