A man called a taxi driver 'specky' before being allegedly murdered by a Lanarkshire cabbie, a trial heard yesterday.
Craig Kearney is said to have been mowed down by Derek McClinton in East Kilbride on March 5, 2017.
Prosecutors claim McClinton hit the 24 year-old with his car, knocked him to the ground before driving over his head and body.
It is alleged the 51 year-old then failed to get medical help and left Craig lying injured on the road in the dark.
Mr Kearney's girlfriend Olivia Geraghty, 28, told jurors at the High Court in Glasgow that the pair had been out with friends in the city centre celebrating her birthday.
The customer services manager stated that they got a taxi home to East Kilbride after 1am.
Prosecutor Liam Ewing QC asked what happened on the journey.
She said: "I remember me and my friends talking in the back and Craig being quite cheeky to the driver.
"I remember him saying specky which I consider to be quite cheeky."
Mr Ewing then questioned if the driver wore glasses and the witness replied: "Yes, the driver wore glasses."
Miss Geraghty said the driver didn't react to the name and dropped her friend Megan McKenna off who lived nearby.
She said: "When we were letting Megan out it began to get quite heated in the taxi between Craig and the driver.
"I remember Craig saying something like 'that was you that said that?' I can't remember word for word."
Miss Geraghty stated she decided to leave the taxi and walk home as she thought there was going to be an "escalation."
Mr Ewing asked if she was able to pay the driver.
She said: "I went to pay the money and he jumped out the taxi, I don't know if the money dropped in the taxi.
"I don't know what happened to that money as I didn't have all the money and had to ask Craig for money.
"Craig and the driver started to go round the taxi as if they wanted to fight."
Mr Ewing asked if Mr Kearney did anything to the taxi and Miss Geraghty replied: "Not that I can recall, no."
McClinton, also of East Kilbride, faces a separate charge of then attempting to pervert the course of justice.
This includes a claim he did “continue in the course of (his) employment as a private hire taxi driver” in the car afterwards.
This is said to have allowed “video footage” taken by a device in the vehicle to be erased.
The charge also states McClinton did wash the car in “an attempt to destroy evidence”.
McClinton denies both charges.
The trial continues before judge Lord Armstrong.
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