Stabbing accused Justis Smith told a court yesterday he is an easy going guy who never hits girls after denying knifing Shanae Outerbridge last February.

In Supreme court Smith said he had been at the Showtime nightclub in Dockyard with two friends but was alone after the pair left before closing time.

He then admitted sneaking into the trunk of a taxi which was filling up with other club-goers.

But trouble flared as the cab moved along Pender road after a girl he knew as Tiffany snatched his hat, he grabbed it back and they argued.

He said Shanae Outerbridge and her cousin Hanifah Taalibdin joined the row until the latter punched him in the face about ten or 12 times but Smith denied hitting her back.

The taxi driver got out and told Smith to leave. The defendant said he offered the $50 for a trip to Hamilton and said he would pay for the fare for the girls but one of the girls swore out at him and told him to go.

The defendant agreed with Prosecutor Lloyd Rayney that he had no business being in the wrong part of the taxi with a group he was not with. But he denied being angry and aggressive and throwing the first punch.

He said: "I don't hit girls, I have to be really provoked to hit someone back, especially a female."

He admitted cursing and being rude but said he hunched over and took Hanifah's punches on the top of his head which he described as being like those "thrown by a guy".

However Smith said he never sought the help of the taxi driver during the onslaught and admitted the driver was annoyed with him and still wanted him out but he remained and offered cash.

Mr. Rayney asked: "Including for the woman who you say was beating you like a man?"

Smith replied: "I am easy like that."

Asked why he chose to remain in the taxi despite claiming he was being punched and cursed at and told to leave, Smith said he was desperate to get out of Dockyard.

He admitted swearing back at the girls and refusing to leave. He said then the taxi driver tried to pull him out so he left the taxi to walk back to Dockyard when Ms Outerbridge punched him in the head.

Smith denied that Ms Outerbridge had asked him why he was hitting girls and said he had only struck her after she began punching him as he walked away.

He said: "I was trying to get away. I told her to leave me alone. She kept punching me so I punched her back a couple of times.

"She kept punching me so I turned around and hit her twice, hard. I was irritated."

The fight was broken up but then Hanifah began punching him, testified Smith, until that too was stopped.

He said: "Hanifah hit me about seven or eight times, she knocked my hat off my head and punched me as I bent down to pick it up."

Smith said he was then attacked by a male passenger from the taxi. "I started to defend myself, I was nervous and scared. There were seven of them."

The mob attack left him with a split lip and broken nose said Smith who ran towards a blue car to escape.

In the car the attack continued said Smith who said he was stabbed in the lip and on the back of his head. Smith said he finally escaped on friend Jason Anderson's motorbike.

He said a group of people pulled at him as he got in the car but he denied having an knife and using it on Shanae Outerbridge.

He told the court: "I never stabbed Shanae."

Earlier in the trial Ms Outerbridge said Smith had punched her really hard in the side of her abdomen at the car and she later noticed she was bleeding.

Doctors had said the wound had been between 2mm and 5mm wide and required four days in hospital but no surgery.

Yesterday Smith claimed he had been stabbed in the lip and back of the head. He said: "It was a sharp instrument, different from a punch."

And he denied he was holding a small, red-handled knife which was snatched from him.

Asked why he hadn't reported to Police his claim that he had been assaulted by two different women and someone else Smith said: "Where I come from you don't complain to Police. Imagine me going to Police..."

Smith, 25, of Sunset Mews, Pembroke denies unlawfully wounding Shanae Outerbridge, 21, with intent to do her grievous bodily harm, during a fight in Pender Road, Sandys on February 2, 2002.

Smith has also denied allegations of punching Ms Outerbridge's cousin Hanifah Taalibdin and possessing a penknife in a public place.

The case in front of Puisne judge Charles-Etta Simmons is set to wrap up today.