A 22-year-old Devonshire man, on trial in the Supreme Court for robbing a taxi driver, will learn his fate today.

The four-man, eight-woman jury hearing his case is expected to begin deliberations shortly before lunchtime, after Puisne Judge Norma Wade-Miller gives her summation.

Lawyers for the Crown and defence yesterday wrapped up the third day of the trial with their closing arguments after a last-minute Police witness gave her testimony.

Vincent Burch, of Derwent Lane, has denied being involved in the September 1, 1996 attack on Leon Trott which landed the taxi driver in the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital with two slashes to his throat.

Burch is being tried on one of the four charges against him.

He was charged with attempted murder, two counts of wounding and robbery, but the jury were told to only consider the robbery charge against Burch.

The other person involved in the case, Stedman Clarke, has taken responsibility for wounding Mr. Trott.

Yesterday, King Edward VII Memorial Hospital's emergency doctor Carol Ferris yesterday testified that Mr. Trott arrived in the emergency room at 5.40 a.m.

on September 1, 1996, bleeding from the neck.

Dr. Ferris said Mr. Trott was stabilised, X-rayed and then prepared for surgery.

Although she could not say exactly when Mr. Trott's clothing was removed or where they were placed, she testified that only authorised personnel -- medical and nursing staff and Police -- would have had access to the resuscitation and trauma room where Mr. Trott was treated.

P.c. Hattya DeSilva, a last minute witness, told the jury that she arrived at the hospital at 6.10 a.m. to find a bedridden Mr. Trott with hospital staff.

After speaking to Mr. Trott, who was wearing a hospital gown, she took a number of items from him.

"Those items were a blood-stained shirt, a white blood-stained towel, a pair of blue trousers, a pair of brown docksiders and some keys,'' she recalled.

"I checked the pockets and found about $18 in cash. I placed them in paper bags. When I left I took them with me.'' Under cross examination by Burch's lawyer Mark Pettingill, P.c. DeSilva admitted that she was only notified on Tuesday that she would have to give testimony in the case.

And she admitted that her only statement about the incident was recorded by Police on Tuesday.

But she said that her statement was produced from notes she made in her Police diary on the morning of Mr. Trott's wounding.

During the three-day trial, the jury has heard from a convicted robber who claimed he and Burch plotted to rob a taxi driver just two weeks before the incident.

Clarke, currently serving a two-year prison sentence for wounding Mr. Trott, told the Court that his roommate, Burch, came up with the idea to rob a taxi driver.

He testified that Burch, who was sitting in the front seat of the cab, gave Mr. Trott directions leading them to a narrow road and distracted Mr. Trott, as they planned, by pretending to pay him.

The jury also heard Mr. Trott describe how he was twice slashed across the throat and how he told the men where his money was.

During closing arguments yesterday, Crown Counsel Philip Storr reminded the jury that Burch admitted that he was present at the time of the attack. He also reminded the jury that Mr. Trott had felt someone reach into his left pant pocket.

Mr. Storr refuted suggestions that Mr. Trott's money could have gone "missing'' at the hospital since he was only surrounded by medical personnel who were trying to stabilise his condition.

But during his closing arguments, Mr. Pettingill questioned if a theft ever took place and whether Mr. Trott's testimony about the money was accurate.

And he reminded the jury about Burch's statement to Police which said that it was Clarke who spoke of robbing a taxi driver, not him. Mr. Pettingill also pointed out that Burch told Police that he fled the taxi the moment Clarke produced a knife.