An 87-year-old retired taxi driver has told a court how he fought back when attacked by a violent passenger but conceded: “My Muhammad Ali days are behind me.”
John Chapman said he was dropped to the ground by the customer, who accused him of stealing £20.
The octogenarian picked up his fare in South Street, Perth, at around 11.30am on September 10 last year and drove him to flats at Bridgend.
Mr Chapman, who retired in March this year only because “my vehicle got too old” told Perth Sheriff Court last week: “I didn’t like the look of him.
“He was very heavily bruised about the eyes.”
‘My Muhammad Ali days are over’
Mr Chapman drove to Potterhill Gardens and parked up outside a row of flats.
He told the trial: “The fare came to £5.07p. It took him ages to find a £5 note.”
Eventually, the passenger handed over the cash but did not get out.
Mr Chapman stepped outside and opened the back door.
“He was leaning forward, fiddling about under my seat.
“Then he got out of the car and said to me: ‘If you don’t give me the £20 you stole off me, I’m going to batter you’.
“He then hit me in the chest.”
Mr Chapman described it as a punch with a closed fist.
“I had been driving and he was in the back seat, I don’t know when I was supposed to have stolen his money.”
Asked by fiscal depute Stuart Hamilton how he responded to being punched, Mr Chapman replied: “I hit him back.”
He claimed the passenger landed another two or three blows and Mr Chapman fell to the ground.
Asked how forceful the punches were, the witness said: “Well, he wasn’t a boxer, I’ll tell you that much.
“Forty years earlier, I could easily have dealt with him.
“I realise that my Muhammad Ali days are over.”
Identification not established
Mr Chapman was left with cuts down his arms and hands and scrapes to his knees.
The customer walked away when a man from nearby flats intervened.
Later, Mr Chapman was unable to identify his attacker from a book of mugshots but told police if he saw the man again, he would recognise him.
But when he came face to face with Richard Miller, the man prosecutors believed was responsible for the assault, he said: “The eyes are similar but I don’t think this is the same guy.”
Mr Miller, 36, of Perth, was accused of attacking Mr Chapman by repeatedly punching him on the body, causing him to fall to his injury.
It was further alleged he behaved in a threatening or abusive manner and demanded money from him.
Mr Miller denied the charges and claimed he was “hanging about with my pals” watching TV that morning.
The court was shown CCTV from South Street of the assault suspect in a light top and shorts entering Mr Chapman’s taxi.
Mr Miller said: “I’ve never owned a pair of knee length shorts.”
He told solicitor David Holmes he was “a bit bigger” than the man on the tape, going so far as to describe himself as “fat”.
When asked to show the court his legs, Mr Miller said: “Do you want me to take my…”
“No, don’t take your trousers down,” said Mr Holmes, who asked his client to roll up a leg of his tracksuit bottoms.
When asked what he thought of the crime he was accused of, Mr Miller said: “It’s disgusting.”
Sheriff’s ‘lingering doubts’
A witness told the court she was adamant she had seen Mr Miller attacking the taxi driver.
But in her statement to police she described someone with a different build, different clothes and a “pot belly”.
Detective Sergeant Steven Cochrane insisted Mr Miller was the man on the video.
“It was quite immediate that I recognised Mr Miller, even the way he walked.”
However, Sheriff William Wood ruled: “Mr Chapman was a first class witness in everything except the key issue of identification.
“I do have lingering doubts about the identification of Mr Miller as the perpetrator and I am obliged to find the case against him not proven.”
Mr Miller was formally acquitted of both charges.
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