Trial opens against BMW driver accused of ramming car in Cowley

Luis Baptista denies claims he drove dangerously on Oxford Road and Garsington Road almost two years ago.

Opening the case against the 33-year-old at Oxford Crown Court on Monday (July 31), prosecutor Joseph Barlow said another driver was heading towards Oxford Road, Cowley, on November 7, 2021, when they found themselves behind a black BMW that was driven by Baptista.

“As they passed Littlehay Road, it’s the Crown’s case Mr Baptista sharply applied his brakes, causing the car behind him to have to brake extremely sharply,” the prosecutor said.

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The vehicles continued until the lights at the junction of Oxford and Between Towns roads. The vehicles were side-by-side, with ‘something of an exchange between’ the occupants of the two vehicles.

Mr Barlow said: “[It] became heated with Mr Baptisa, we say, becoming angry and aggressive; reversing his car and then ramming the car [of the victim] multiple times.”

The BMW allegedly drove off. It was seen ‘a further two times driving in a manner we say is dangerous’, the jury was told. Baptista allegedly performed ‘dangerous overtakes’, at one point almost colliding with another vehicle.

Baptista, of Balfour Road, Oxford, has pleaded not guilty to dangerous driving. The evidence will begin this morning.

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