A MAN has denied hurling racist abuse at a cabbie before throwing pound coins through his taxi window striking him in the face.

Adam Winch of Shores Green, Witney, is accused of two counts of racially aggravated assault and racially aggravated harassment.

He is alleged to have launched a tirade of abuse at taxi driver Abdul Mobin after leaving a pub with another man.

A jury of five men and seven women was sworn in as the trial began at Oxford Crown Court yesterday.

The 47-year old is alleged to have called the taxi driver of ten years a “f*ing Muslim” and telling him to “go back to his own country”.

Mr Mobin answered questions from both the prosecution and defence behind a screen during the trial yesterday.

With the aid of a Bengali interpreter he told jurors that three hours into his shift he was driving his silver Ford Galaxy cab when he was called to the Windrush Inn, Witney at about 9.30pm on February 22 last year.

He picked up two men, one of whom was Winch who sat in the back seat and another man who sat in the front, to take them a short distance away to Oxford Hill, Witney.

Winch then began quizzing the driver on his name and his religion, the court heard.

Mr Mobin said: “He asked me if I was Muslim and then he said you must be Muslim.

“He started swearing as well. He also asked me how many children I wanted to have.

“Jokingly I said 10. Then he started swearing at me.

“He used the f word, then he said you f*ing Muslim.”

Some time afterwards, the court heard, Winch is alleged to have grabbed the steering wheel and pushed the taxi driver on the back of his head.

Later on leaving the cab he is accused of hurling pound coins at the drivers face when asked for the full fare before shouting “go back to your own country.”

Mr Mobin told jurors: “I have never had a bad experience like this in my whole life.

“I was really stunned after this incident that there are people who hate me, or us.”

The court heard how when Winch was interviewed by police following the incident he told officers that he had been at a wake before getting into the taxi and said that the exchange had been a ‘heated discussion on religion’.

The trial continues.