Roy Keane walks free from court after road-rage trial

Keane in the dock.

Roy Keane's trial has heard details of the alleged incident that occurred on January 30th last that has landed him in court on charges of harassment, alarm or distress to a taxi driver. The current Republic of Ireland assistant manager is accused of flicking a 'V' sign at the driver and shouting at him aggressively after the driver, Fateh Kerar, indicated to the Corkman to smile. The court heard that Keane is allegedly to have stared aggressively at the driver, and then followed the taxi to a set of traffic lights where it's alleged by the prosecution that Keane got out of his 4x4 and remonstrated with the driver.

"At a junction the defendant gave a ‘V’ sign towards Mr Kerar and then gets out of his vehicle, at this point he becomes aggressive, shouting and waving his arms around towards Mr Kerar and his passenger.

“He then gets back in his vehicle and drives away.”

The taxi driver gave evidence of his love for the former midfielder and his initial joy at seeing the former Ireland captain,

 “I love Roy Keane and I love football.”

“When I parked my car I looked to the left and it was Roy Keane parked in his car. I looked at him, he looked at me. He kept staring at me in my face.

“He was looking at me very aggressively, saying something in his car. I couldn’t hear him. He was looking at me very aggressively. I have never met him before. He was giving me bad looks.”

Kerar then told the court that he did make a gesture towards Keane, but the Irishman was unresponsive before noticing that the former Celtic man was following his car.

https://twitter.com/101greatgoals/status/611848393053241345

Kerar described the confrontation between the two men at the junction.

"He jumped from his car and he was swearing aggressive. I could hear from him his Irish accent. He was very mad. He was swearing, mad and he lost his temper. He was very aggressive. He put his finger to me like that (gestured V sign)

“He was of course ‘f******’ and ‘f******’. I’m not going to say what he said. He was swearing, you f****** this you f*** that. I’m not sure exactly what he was saying. I said to him to go back to his car. He was mad and aggressive. He was swearing at me. I can’t remember what he was saying.”

In cross-examination by Keane's defense counsel Kerrr was accused of seeking publicity after the incident.

He denied the claims and told the court that he only wanted justice,

"No. I want this court to punish Roy Keane, what he did to me. I don’t want publicity.”

The defense also questioned Kerar's version of the events leading up to the confrontation, putting it to the taxi driver that Keane was not staring at him in an aggressive fashion but the 44-year-driver disagreed,

“His eyes came to my eyes. He was looking at me very bad. I thought I was paranoid. I never met him before. I’m only a taxi driver. Maybe he’s having a bad day.”

Keane has pleaded not guilty, and had some interesting things to say when he took to the stand.

The Ireland assistant manager revealed he was on his way to buy dog food in Altrincham, having already bought bread in Hale, when he encountered Kerar.

Keane said the taxi driver flipped him the V sign, prompting Keane to get out his car ask "What's your problem", then "Oh f*** off". The Corkman's defence said the incident was "a storm in a teacup", however, the prosecution claimed Keane "lost control and lost his temper.

Keane even managed to get a few laughs in the courtroom.

https://twitter.com/OllyFoster/status/611858380068667392 And was eventually found not guilty. Roy is a free man. https://twitter.com/OllyFoster/status/611866128923643904

H/T to Irish Times