'Taxi driver bit off tip of man's nose,' Bristol Crown Court hears
A TAXI driver bit the tip of a man's nose off, spat it in his face and called him "scum", a jury heard.
Bristol Crown Court heard Jack Chrisostomou, known as "Greek Jack", drove Sarah Watkins home and she recognised him as a driver who threw her out of his cab six years previously.
When her partner Christopher Wynn went to have words with the driver a struggle ensued in which Chrisostomou tried to bite his face and bit off a chunk of his nose, the court heard.
Chrisostomou, 42, of Whitecross Road, Weston-super-Mare, denies wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and an alternative charge of wounding, in November 2009.
Mum-of-two Ms Watkins said she had shopped at Asda and, after using the store phone to call a taxi, Chrisostomou turned up and she recognised him as the driver who had dumped her by the side of the road and called her a "slag" after she had been out clubbing.
She said she knew straightaway the driver recognised her, but decided to get in his car because she did not want to wait for another taxi.
She told the court Chrisostomou tried to make conversation, but she gave one word answers and decided she would say something about what he had done to her before.
She said: "I brought up the subject that the last time he saw me he chucked me out the taxi. I did this because I thought I would regret not having that conversation with him.
"He denied all knowledge. He started getting really agitated, raising his voice and getting cross.
"I told him it was obvious his temper hadn't changed much since that incident."
Ms Watkins said the driver drove her home, and as he was helping to collect her shopping from his boot she told her partner Mr Wynn about the driver and there was a commotion outside.
Mr Wynn described how Ms Watkins was hysterical, and he went out to tell the driver not to pick her up again. Mr Wynn told the jury: "He flung the shopping at me, he came at me and we started wrestling.
"He was carrying two bags and a crate of beer and they went over my shoulder. He lunged at me and I put my hands out to defend myself."
Mr Wynn said that as they grappled the "snarling" driver pinned him to the ground and tried to bite his forehead. He said: "I felt him bite my nose, which has still got a tooth print. With another bite he took the side of my nose off, he spat it in my face and said 'scum'. He got up, got in his taxi and left."
Mr Wynn said he tried but failed to find the bitten-off flesh in the darkness.
The court heard surgeons took skin grafts from his neck and ear to reform his nose, and there was the possibility of a further graft using skin from his face.
The taxi driver told police he only bit because Mr Wynn was grabbing his genitals, which Mr Wynn denied.
The case continues.
source:
http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/courts/
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