A taxi driver was used as a punching bag by a man who abducted him, he told New Plymouth District Court today.
Tony Brosnan, 49, told a depositions hearing he remembered picking up two men from a New Plymouth taxi stand.
An argument developed about the fare.
"He moaned about the price, the next I knew he was punching me and that was it," he said.
"I think I must have been knocked out. He dragged me outside and carried on using me as a punching bag and at some stage I've ended up in the boot."
Raymond Edwards, 28, has denied charges of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, kidnapping and the aggravated robbery of $600 cash, a cellphone and log book.
Police say he left Mr Brosnan in the boot of his taxi with serious head injuries before he dumped the car at Urenui School, 30km northeast of New Plymouth, on January 23 this year.
Witness Khan Househam, an Australian backpacker, said he unwittingly became involved in the incident when he drank with Edwards at a bar and got into the taxi with him.
Edwards dragged Mr Brosnan from his cab, tried to strangle him, repeatedly stomped on his head and threw him into the boot of the car, Mr Househam said.
Mr Househam went to the police two days after the incident.
Edwards' lawyer Paul Keegan conceded a prima facie case existed.
Edwards was remanded in custody.
