A taxi driver told how he had asked a woman to get out of his cab just a few short minutes before she was grabbed in the street and sexually assaulted.

Former Policeman Kenneth Bourne told the Supreme Court that he was operating his taxi during the early hours of October 14 last year when a man and a woman hired his car on Front Street. He took them to Ice Queen to buy take-away food, before dropping off the male passenger at home in Warwick.

Then he headed towards the woman's home, driving west along Middle Road, but Mr. Bourne told the jury that he began to argue with the 29-year-old woman because she was eating in his car.

When she refused to cease, he stopped the taxi outside PHC Club in Warwick and asked her to get out.

The seven-woman and five-man jury is hearing the trial of a 35-year-old Warwick man who is charged with seriously sexually assaulting the woman in the early hours in Heron's Nest Drive, Southampton.

The man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, denies the charge.

Mr. Bourne told the court that after both he and the woman got out of the vehicle sometime after 3 a.m., a man on a scooter rolled by and stopped behind the taxi.

He said he had known of the man for about ten years, but did not know his name.

Mr. Bourne said outside the cab he and the woman were arguing about the food and payment of the taxi fare.

In the end, he said he grabbed a $20 bill out of her hand.

Meanwhile, the man on the bike had stopped and was talking to him, standing just a couple of feet away. Mr. Bourne said: "The man took the change off me and gave it to the lady.

"I got back into the taxi and did a U-turn to go back into the city. The woman was on the sidewalk and the man was on the road. I then stopped the taxi and asked the male his name. He came over to the car. He said he did not know her name. I don't think he understood what I had asked of him. At that point she was walking on the sidewalk going west.'' Mr. Bourne said while he was stopped outside PHC Club there was nobody else besides the three of them in the area.

And he said on his return journey into town there was nobody close to the vicinity, and no other vehicles.

The taxi driver said he had had a good view of the man's face in the well-lit area and he described him as wearing blue jeans and a reddish-coloured top.

He told the court that he had since discovered the man's name, and it was the accused.

On Monday, prosecutor Vinette Graham-Allen, who is being assisted by Graveney Bannister, alleged that once the taxi had pulled away, the accused then drove up beside the woman and offered her a lift home on the back of his scooter.

However, she said the woman jumped off the bike when the man failed to follow her directions and turned instead into Riddell's Bay Road, Southampton.

She then started to walk the rest of the way home. However, just minutes later, she was grabbed from behind and pulled into Heron's Nest Drive, where she was seriously sexually assaulted.

The man made off, and an off duty Police officer then drove past and noticed the woman and raised the alarm.

A search of the scene later by officers led to the discovery of a pair of women's shoes and a baseball cap.

Defence attorney for the accused Elizabeth Christopher did not dispute that her client stopped beside the taxi and spoke to the driver.

However, she suggested to Mr. Bourne during cross examination that there were other people in the area at the time, and said there were three feeder roads that led on to Middle Road close to PHC where traffic could have travelled.

She asked Mr. Bourne if he had had to assist the woman out of his vehicle, to which he replied `no'. He said he did not touch her at all. And the driver denied the situation outside his cab was "unpleasant'', as suggested by Ms Christopher.

The lawyer added: "Is it correct to say the man that approached the situation was trying to help?'' Mr. Bourne said: "He was trying to help.'' The lawyer continued: "Isn't it correct that the area outside PHC and Four Star Pizza is normally a place where people hang out?'' But the witness said: "Not at three in the morning.'' And she added: "I'm going to suggest to you that there were people there.'' To which Mr. Bourne replied: "There was no one else in the area.'' Police Scenes of Crime photographer Detective Constable Theodore Providence then took the stand and showed the jury a book of pictures he took, both of the crime scene and of the victim, showing injuries to her arms, neck, upper and lower back.

Det. Con. Providence then began to take four pieces of the woman's clothing, which were each individually sealed in bags, out in front of the court, which were to be entered as evidence.

The trial, which is being heard by Puisne Judge Charles-Etta Simmons, was then adjourned until Monday morning.