Trucking boss Richard Foggo repeatedly threatened to kill Health Minister Zane DeSilva during a profanity filled tirade on Cabinet Grounds, a court heard yesterday.However Mr Foggo denied threatening Mr DeSilva, saying he only raised hand to him after the Minister turned towards him aggressively.Mr Foggo has pleaded not guilty to charges of using threatening words and threatening behaviour towards Mr DeSilva on Cabinet Grounds in an August 5 incident.Taking the stand, Mr DeSilva said on the day of the incident he was in his car when an agitated Mr Foggo, the President of the Bermuda General Truckers Association, confronted him.“He was rambling on about how I was costing him business, that I caused him to lose business and he said something about his father’s death,” Mr DeSilva said.The Minister said that as the tirade continued, Mr Foggo said repeatedly “I’m going to kill you”, “I’m going to get you”, and “You’re going to get what you deserve”.Mr DeSilva said he felt threatened by Mr Foggo, and decided to go into the Cabinet Office to call the police.As he did so, he alleged that Mr Foggo threateningly shoved his finger in his face.“He didn’t hit me, he didn’t touch me, but he had his finger in my face,” Mr DeSilva said. “He said ‘I will shove my finger up your effing a**.’”He said Mr Foggo then followed him into and out of the Cabinet Office, continuing to rant until the police arrived.“He was very agitated at all times,” Mr DeSilva said. “Right from the moment I rolled my window down.”Speaking in his own defence, Mr Foggo said he was on Cabinet grounds to speak with the Attorney General Michael Scott when he saw Mr DeSilva, the boss of Island Construction, and decided to confront him about illegal trucking.He said he knocked on the window of Mr DeSilva’s car and, when he rolled it down, began to question the Minister about Island Construction using dumpsters illegally and costing truckers business.“I told him he was depriving me of work,” Mr Foggo said. “I told him that he is stealing. At that point he was looking at me with a smirk on his face.“These operations killed my father. I told him ‘My father is dead because of your stealing’.”Mr Foggo said that Mr DeSilva rolled up his window and stepped out of the vehicle, saying that he didn’t have to listen to Mr Foggo.As Mr Foggo continued to confront the Minister, he said Mr DeSilva turned towards him aggressively, as if he was going to “launch towards” him.Mr Foggo said the move caused him to step back and raise a finger. When Mr DeSilva told him to get the finger out of his face, Mr Foggo told the court he told Mr DeSilva: “If you lay your hands on me, I will shove my finger up your f***ing a**.”He said Mr DeSilva responded saying: “I’m not going to lay my hands on you. I’m going to call the police.”Mr Foggo repeatedly denied otherwise making any threatening statements or gestures, saying he at no point threatened to kill the Minister.While he said he felt frustrated and disrespected by the Minister, he said he never lost his temper.Richard Horseman, representing Mr Foggo, said due to the lack of other witnesses the entire case boiled down to Mr DeSilva’s word against Mr Foggo’s.“Mr DeSilva is a Minister and a politician, but that doesn’t make his word better than anyone else’s,” Mr Horseman said.Magistrate Juan Wolffe released Mr Foggo on bail until next week, when he is expected to return to Magistrates’ Court for judgement.