A jury at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court has cleared Amanda McKenna of assaulting and robbing a taxi driver, and convicted her of fraudulently using his bank card. McKenna, 39, of Cowdenbeath, was sentenced to three months. She had worn an electronic tag for 197 days on bail in this case. The sheriff treated that as time already served, and she was released. Kirkcaldy taxi card case
The Dunearn Drive fare
The charge concerned a pick-up outside the Co-op in Dunearn Drive, Kirkcaldy, at about 2.30am on 28 March 2025. The driver, 53, had been sent there for an address in Melrose Crescent. A woman in a greenish parka, with the hood up, and blue jeans sat directly behind him. He had seen her face as she walked past the window. In court he was "100%" sure the passenger was McKenna.
He asked to be paid before he set off. She replied that she would get the money when she got there. Company policy meant he could not take her. She put both hands round his throat.
"She told me she had no money and she had a dirty needle. I can feel something sharp pressed against my neck as well, on my right hand side. I was not able to see. I told her I would give her the money."
The pressure was slight and did not pierce the skin. She loosened her grip. He pulled her wrists apart, got out and checked his neck. She was lying across the driver's seat. He punched her twice, unsure where the punches landed, threw her out and drove off. He went to a pub and phoned the operator, who called the police. He was shaken.
On his account, the woman took his wallet. It held about £60 in cash, bank cards and a driving licence. CCTV from outside the shop showed a person entering the taxi and an apparent struggle about a minute later. The picture did not identify who it was.
The identification
Adam Scott, for McKenna, took the driver through the identification. At a video parade about a month later, the driver did not pick her out. He put that down to her hair looking different, tidier and possibly another colour. On the morning after the attack he had chosen her face from a police sheet of 12 women. Scott suggested that photograph stood out, as the only image with a red background.
"Because that's the person that attacked me."
Police photographs of McKenna taken three days later showed no injuries. DNA samples taken from the driver were inconclusive. The light over the back seat was not working, and nor was the camera in the taxi.
The bank card
At about 4.35am a second driver was called to Templehall Avenue, the address of McKenna's partner. A woman paid £20 before the journey, with a bank card in the first driver's name. She was taken to another address in the town, collected again, and dropped back in Templehall Avenue at about 5.20am.
By the return trip the second driver knew that another driver had been attacked, and he tried to take in as much as he could. It was still dark. He noticed a tattoo on the left side of her neck, which he thought might be stars. Shown a photograph of McKenna's tattoo, he could not be certain, and remembered it as a kind of stars.
At 5.30am police phoned the number used to book that taxi. A man answered and passed the phone to a woman. She gave her name as Amanda McKenna, then hung up.
In interview later that day McKenna denied the robbery. Her account was that her partner had phoned a taxi for a girl named Claire.
Claire Duncan
McKenna denied the charges and lodged a special defence of incrimination, naming Claire Duncan. Duncan, 32, is serving 40 months, imposed in September 2025, for two robberies and an attempted robbery of taxi drivers in Thornton and Glenrothes between April and May 2025. Scott highlighted that those crimes had involved a knife or a sharply pointed object held against the drivers' necks.
Duncan denied the Dunearn Drive attack. Police had asked her in January whether she was responsible. She has taken full responsibility for everything she has done.
"I am happy being in prison. If I had done this I would take responsibility."
McKenna's partner told the trial that Duncan had been at his home that night, left for about an hour, and came back with blood from her nose and lip, claiming someone had tried to take money off her. He booked the taxi because she had no phone.
The sentence
On the penultimate day McKenna slumped in the dock and appeared to be sleeping. The trial was adjourned over the weekend and she was remanded for that period. Earlier in the trial she had also left an afternoon sitting to collect medication, without a word to the court.
After the verdicts, Sheriff John MacRitchie turned to whether that was a contempt.
"At one stage, she was so comatose that the escorting officer (custody officer) could not actually wake her up. She clearly has very significant issues. She just disappeared from the court to go and get medication without any word and caused massive inconvenience to members of the jury."
Prosecutor Laurelle Johnstone put a schedule of previous convictions before the court: assaults, breach of the peace, failure to appear, theft by shoplifting, threatening or abusive behaviour, and being concerned in the supply of heroin.
The sheriff imposed three months. The time on the tag was treated as already served, and McKenna was released.