A taxi driver threatened a visitor with a steak knife, a witness testified in Magistrates' Court yesterday.

But Sandys Parish resident Howard Burnell Cross, on trial for four charges relating to the incident, denied holding an offensive weapon to the throat of US tourist Frank Farley at Horseshoe Bay car park on July 5 last year.

Cross, 57, of Scott's Hill Road, is also alleged to have "uttered offensive words, behaved in a threatening manner and assaulted Mr. Farley while motivated by antipathy toward the colour of his skin'' after the 54-year-old New York City resident opened the door of a taxi too wide and hit the side of Cross's vehicle.

In the witness box yesterday, fellow taxi driver Rupert Macdonald Williams, who was about to take Mr. Farley and his party from the beach to the cruise ship Zenith , testified that despite the tourist offering apologies, Cross accused him of deliberately damaging his car.

"(Mr. Farley) repeated his apologies and asked Mr. Cross what he expected him to do,'' Mr. Williams said. "After this there was a heated exchange of words during which I heard Mr. Cross calling the gentleman white trash. At this, the gentleman got out of my cab and approached Mr. Cross.'' Mr. Williams, who said he knew Cross for years, added that despite his own efforts to calm the argument down, Cross then went on to produce a knife with a four-inch blade from his pocket.

"He put the knife, which I thought to be a steak-knife, to the gentleman's throat and said to him `I'll cut your jugular'. I don't think it touched the man, but he held it there for about a minute.'' By this time, according to Mr. Williams, several taxi drivers from the rank had got involved and were trying to calm the situation down.

In cross-examination, Cross, who is defending himself, questioned the witness' memory.

He also suggested that Mr. Farley called him "a piece of black s***'' just after the argument began.

Also giving testimony was taxi driver Janet Turini, who described how she arrived at the car park while the argument was in full blaze.

"When I got out of my taxi I saw these two men arguing and to me it was very embarrassing because of the tourists who were standing around watching,'' she said.

"Both were telling each other they'd smash each other up,'' she continued, "but then I heard the American gentleman say he'd already apologised.

"Mr. Cross didn't seem to be listening though. He was in a hostile mood and he called the other man something like a `white b*****d'.

"I felt hurt to know that those sort of words would come from a taxi driver and I decided to take some of the tourists out of there.'' Witnesses tell of confrontation Police witness Det. Con. David Bird read out the transcription of an interview he had with Cross just after the taxi-driver was arrested for the alleged offences.

The statements, which Cross refused to sign, highlighted his belief that it was he who had been not only insulted, but assaulted also.

Det. Con. Bird testified that Cross told him he was racially and verbally abused by Mr. Farley and also that he "pushed his belly into mine''.

"I told him to get out of here,'' Cross told the Police officer in the interview, "but he called me a piece of black s***.'' Det. Con. Bird testified that Cross admitted to using "loud language'' in the exchange but also that he added: "If I hadn't done he would have beat me up.

"I never called nobody white trash,'' Cross was quoted as saying in the interview. "I called him a white f****r because he was f*****g with me.'' Cross also denied using or possessing a knife during the interview, saying he used a spoon instead.

But in cross-examination Cross suggested that Det. Con. Bird had "coerced'' him into telling him what he wanted to hear.

He called the officer "biased'' and claimed that he was not out to find the truth but just "out to get me''.

"He wrote down what he wanted to write down,'' Cross said. "He never asked me what really happened but told me what I was right from the word go.'' It was also revealed that Det. Con. Bird found no offensive weapons in the taxi while searching it.

Cross was released on bail and the trial continues today before Senior Magistrate Will Francis.