A taxi driver has taken to the stand to give evidence as part of a murder trial into the death of an Uber driver in Rochdale.

Ali Asghar, 39, was taken to hospital with serious injuries after being attacked on Queensway in Rochdale on Saturday, October 30.

Mr Asghar died in hospital 15 days later on Sunday, November 14.

Connor McPartland, 20, of Hollins Road, Oldham, and Martin Treacy, 18, of Gawsworth Close, Oldham, have both been charged with his murder and have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Mohammad Khalid took to the stand at Manchester Crown Court today (May 10) and told the jury that he was working as a taxi driver on the night of the attack and saw Mr Asghar ‘kicked in the head repeatedly’ near the Shell petrol station on Queensway.

He attempted to reason with the two men who were attacking Mr Asghar, telling the jury: "My focus was trying to save the taxi driver."

One of the men, who he described as a ‘lad in a white T-shirt’, then went to his car and threatened to steal it while ‘another lad in a black T-shirt’ carried on attacking Mr Asghar.

He also heard someone shout ‘I will stab you’.

Fearing he was also in danger he got back into his car and called the police.

It was at this point that he heard a ‘big scream’ and someone shouting, ‘run, run’.

The police constable that arrested McPartland that night later took to the stand and said that when he searched McPartland he found a multi-tool knife in his left pocket.

Mr Khalid went on to tell the jury that he came across another taxi driver that night, who told him he was ‘already on the phone to the police’ after seeing the incident.

He also took to the stand and confirmed he had seen the incident while driving past and called the police.

He said he heard a voice say, ‘enough stop enough’ and saw ‘two guys beating one man’ and ‘punching him’.

He added that he went to have a look and saw a man lying on a footpath with ‘blood coming from his nose and head’ and called an ambulance.

A third taxi driver called Mr Iqbal also gave evidence.

He told the court that he had been driving back from the airport and went to the Shell garage on Queensway to fill up where he saw Mr Khalid standing on the footpath with another man.

He asked Mr Khalid what happened and was told that ‘somebody had been attacked by two lads’ who ‘ran away’.

Mr Iqbal was invited to help look for the two men after being shown a man on the floor who had ‘blood all over’ and on the floor next to him.

Two witness statements were then read out to the court.

One witness, who lives near the Shell garage, said heard a voice that said ‘come on have a go’ but did not see anything.

Another witness said they too did not see anything but were woken by a ‘commotion’ and voices on Queensway that sounded like ‘two young lads and an older Asian male’.

The witness said they thought it was a ‘taxi driver having a dispute’ and later heard someone say ‘come on then, come on then. Get the police, phone the police’ before hearing a ‘banging noise that lasted for around 45 minutes’.

At the trial opening on Monday, Galais Gozem, prosecuting, told the court that a pathologist had concluded the pattern of facial injuries suffered by Mr Asghar was consistent with a ‘sustained assault’ and that the cause of death was a head injury.

The jury was also told that Treacy had admitted manslaughter but denied that he intended to cause the taxi driver serious harm.

McPartland also denies manslaughter and two counts of making threats with an offensive weapon.

The trial will continue this week.