ANTILL: CABBIE ‘BRAVELY FOUGHT OFF KNIFE-WIELDING ROBBER’

A taxi driver bravely fought off a knife-wielding robber by biting his ear, a court heard.

Peter Antill was allegedly attacked by Kye Ellis, 33, after being directed to a dead end in West Ham, east London.

Ellis was heard to yell: ‘Give me you money or I will stab you’ but was forced to flee the scene empty handed, it is claimed.

Prosecutor Nathan Palmer told the jury the alleged attempted robbery had taken place at around 9.45pm on July 3, last year.

He said Ellis had got into the cab near Waterloo Station and directed the driver to the ExCel centre in east London, but later ordered him to head for Moorey Close, in West Ham.

‘That road is a dead end,’ Mr Palmer told the jury. ‘When they arrived the driver stopped.

‘At this point the defendant jumped out of the back of the cab.

‘The driver looked in his wing mirror to his right hand side.

‘He saw the defendant and he saw that he had a knife in his right hand.

‘The driver tried to pull away but travelled only a matter of yards because of the dead end.

‘The defendant then reached into the driver’s window brandishing the knife towards the driver.

‘He said words to the effect of ”Give me you money or I will stab you”.’

Mr Palmer told the jury Ellis pointed the knife at Mr Antill’s chest but the driver managed to grab Ellis’ hand.

He continued: ‘The defendant put his head into the cab and bit the driver’s right wrist.

‘In response to being bitten the driver bit the defendant’s left ear as hard as he could.’

The court heard the two men grappled over the knife until it snapped in two and Ellis stumbled backwards.

Ellis then came at Mr Antill again and the driver retaliated by punching him twice in the face causing him to flee the scene empty handed, Mr Palmer told the jury.

The court heard that following the attempted robbery forensic experts found traces of Ellis’ DNA on the handle of the broken knife and in the bite wound left on Mr Antill’s wrist.

In interview Ellis told police he had been at his girlfriend’s home in Epsom, Surrey, before he travelled home at around 9pm.

He said he could not be certain how he had got home.

Mr Palmer said: ‘The prosecution say this was a pre-meditated attack where by a defendant who had armed himself in order to commit the offence and had deliberately targeted the taxi driver thinking he had chosen a vulnerable victim who was highly likely to be carrying an amount of cash.’

Ellis, of no fixed abode, denies attempted robbery.

The trial continues.

ENDS