A 4x4 driver accused of hitting a motorcyclist with a mallet and driving over his arm has admitted waving a mallet out of his car window at the biker.
Bernard Doherty said he felt "a bit irritated" during a heated exchange with motorcyclist Paul Wisdom at traffic lights in Edinburgh last year and told the biker "I hope you crash and kill yourself".
But he denied repeatedly hitting Mr Wisdom, 41,
in the head and body with the mallet then ramming his Jeep into the motorcycle knocking the biker and his passenger off.
And he said Mr Wisdom's account of Doherty driving the red Daihatsu Jeep over his hand and up his arm to the shoulder "did not happen".
Doherty, a gardener who is signed off sick from work with clinical depression, was giving evidence in his own defence in a trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court today.
He is accused of breach of the peace, assault, dangerous driving and possessing a lock knife as an offensive weapon, but denies all the charges.
Doherty told the court he was driving home when he saw the Honda motorbike driving fast behind him with two men on board and pulled up alongside them at a red light in Telford Road on August 10 last year.
He said Mr Wisdom turned and shouted at him then told his passenger Shaun Leonard "I'm going to kill him", referring to Doherty.
Doherty admitted telling the biker he hoped he crashed and died and admitted picking up a mallet from the dashboard and rolling it around in his hands.
He claimed he drove off when the lights changed to green with the motorbike following closely behind along Strachan Road, while he was driving at 20mph to 25mph.
"I was being harassed. They tried to push me into the side of the street," said Doherty.
"I picked the mallet up. I shook it out of the window. I put it out of the window and tried to keep them at a distance. I didn't want to but I had no option, I felt threatened and in fear of my life", he said.
"I got faster and he got faster and there was a collision. The bike fell over to the right hand side. I pulled over to the left and jumped out," said Doherty, adding: "I never drove at him, over him or anything".
He claimed he had "panicked" and thrown the mallet into a neighbouring garden after hearing the bikers planning to tell police he had hit Mr Wisdom with it. He also claimed one of the motorcyclists said "get his number for the insurance".
Doherty, of Stenhouse Crescent, Edinburgh, denied "swiping" into the motorcycle and trapping Mr Wisdom's leg between the Jeep and the bike at the traffic lights.
He also denied repeatedly speeding up then braking hard in front of the motorcycle in Strachan Road, and swerving to prevent it from overtaking.
And he denied claims he then rammed into the motorcycle, causing Mr Wisdom and Mr Leonard to fall off and drove the Jeep at Mr Wisdom as he knelt injured in the road, running over his arm before stopping.
The trial continues.
