Backing up his claims that he was taking an asthmatic hitchhiker on an emergency trip to the King Edward Memorial VII Hospital last fall, three witnesses testified on behalf of an alleged reckless driver in Magistrates' Court yesterday.

Last week, Gary Benjamin, 25, had pleaded not guilty to charges of dangerous driving and driving at a high speed. He was charged with the offences on October 11, after Police pulled him over for doing 99 kph.

A resident of Tribe Road No. 2 in Sandys, Benjamin has told the court that he was driving at a high speed to take a hitchhiker he believed to have asthma to the hospital.

Yesterday, fellow passenger Trevor Devon Dickinson, also of Sandys, confirmed that he and Benjamin were travelling west on Palmetto Road when they saw Dennis DeCosta standing at a bus depot. He said he had seen DeCosta around Somerset.

Having offered him a ride, "we first heard heavy breathing coming from the back seat when we drove past Devonshire Recreation Club,'' he said. "This is when Gary started to speed so we could go to the hospital.'' Under cross-examination, Dickinson said he first noticed the Police were following them when they hit the traffic island on Dutton Avenue and slid left.

He also said that he did not remember DeCosta laughing when the Police stopped them, that DeCosta smelled of alcohol or that DeCosta told Police that he did not want to go to the hospital.

Dickinson did tell the court that the three men attempted to proceed on to the hospital after Police had finished writing out the ticket, but that the car broke down in front of the Fire Station because of a damaged engine. They flagged down a taxi and then took Mr. DeCosta to the hospital, he said.

Dickinson denied accusations from prosecuting officer Sgt. Earl Kirby that the three men had "made the whole thing up as an excuse to get Benjamin out of trouble.'' The alleged asthmatic, 19-year-old Dennis DeCosta of Tribe Road No. 2 in Sandys, told the court he had been at Clay House Inn in Devonshire that night but that did not remember actually leaving there or how he got to the bus depot.

"I don't remember too much,'' he said.

DeCosta said he did not recall anything because he had been having pains in his stomach. Later, he admitted under cross-examination that his memory was unclear because he had been drinking at Clay House.

It was the "smoking, drinking and dancing'' that had brought on the pain in his stomach, he told the court. "The pain was with me when I got to the hospital.'' In reply, Magistrate the Wor. Charles-Etta Simmons said: "I thought that you didn't remember going to the hospital.'' "I remember the pain,'' DeCosta answered, adding that he also remembered having X-rays taken.

Police had said at the beginning of the trial that DeCosta had said: "I don't want to go to no hospital. I don't like them doctors.'' Yesterday, DeCosta denied that he was afraid of hospitals and could not remember having told police otherwise.

The prosecution also submitted hospital records as evidence. In them, a nurse had written: "No previous evidence of asthma. Alert and oriented. Chest good.'' In response to the evidence, defence lawyer Mr. Ed Bailey pointed out that Benjamin would not have known that DeCosta did not suffer from asthma.

The taxi driver who took the trio from King's Street to the hospital also testified.

"If DeCosta was faking it he was good,'' he said. "He was breathing like someone had punched him in the stomach. His breathing was very erratic.'' The trial has been adjourned until Thursday, when the prosecution will call two witnesses.