Driver denies poo row attack

A motorist has been accused of mowing down a man and his dog in his van because the Rottweiler pooed on his driveway, a court heard.

Alexander McKinley is said to have carried out a life-threatening assault on Dean Johnstone by deliberately knocking him down in his van.

A witness has told how he saw the alleged incident unfold in front of him - and heard the dog “yelping”in pain afterwards.

Robert Duffy, 66, was giving evidence at McKinley’s Paisley Sheriff Court trial.

He denies assaulting Mr Johnstone by driving a Vauxhall Combo van at him, and striking both him and the dog“to his injury and danger of life”, on September 4, 2018, in William Street,

Johnstone.

Mr Duffy said:“I had to step back onto the pavement as the car came screaming down the hill.

“If you imagine a race track, when you see the vehicle’s back wheels spinning and then speeding off, that’s what actually happened.

“He hit the gentlemen and the dog and the gentleman and the dog were thrown over the bonnet of the car.”

When asked to describe how the vehicle was being driven, he said it was

“disgusting”and added: “He hit the dog, which was on a leash.

“I heard the noise of the dog hitting the grill. The dog had taken most of the impact of the crash.

“The dog was yelping. The man looked like he was in a state of shock.

“After it had hit the dog and the gentleman, both windows were open, and he was shouting expletives out the window when he went past me.”

He said the driver, whom he identified in court as McKinley, circled around and drove back to the scene of the collision.

He explained:“The man was still lying on the ground at the time, trying to get up.

“The driver came to a skidding halt, at an angle.

“He said to me,‘Do you know him? He’s bad news. That’ll teach him for allowing his dog to s*** in my driveway again.’

“Basically, that the dog had done a dump on his driveway, and that’s what caused him to be in such a bad frame of mind.”

He said the driver ‘didn’t appear to be rational’and described his behaviour as‘bizarre’ and‘bamboozling’.

McKinley, of Johnstone, maintains his innocence and the trial, before Sheriff Bruce Erroch, continues.