George Harrison shouted ''Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna!

George Harrison Stabbing Case

FROM ASSOCIATED PRESS

ENGLAND, Nov 16 (VNN) — George Harrison Stabbing Case Begins

OXFORD, England (AP) - Former Beatle George Harrison shouted ''Hare

Krishna, Hare Krishna!'' while being assaulted by a knife-wielding

intruder in hopes of disorienting his attacker, a jury heard Tuesday.

Harrison said in a statement read in court that he thought he was

going to die as the man pushed a knife into his chest and he felt

blood rising toward his mouth. Harrison's wife, Olivia, who also was

attacked, testified in person of her desperate attempts to stop the

man.

''There was blood on the walls, blood on my hands and I realized that

we were going to be murdered and this man was succeeding in murdering

us and there was absolutely nobody else there to help,'' she said.

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"Former Beatle George Harrison shouted ''Hare Krishna, Hare

Krishna!'' while being assaulted..."

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The accused attacker, Michael Abram, has pleaded innocent by reason

of insanity to two counts of attempted murder in connection with the

Dec. 30 attack at Harrison's home in nearby Henley-on-Thames.

Abram, 34, whose trial opened Tuesday at Oxford Crown Court, is

charged with breaking into the former Beatle's home and stabbing him,

puncturing a lung. He also is accused of attacking Olivia Harrison.

George Harrison, 57, told jurors in the statement that he and his

wife were awakened in the middle of the night by the sound of a

window smashing downstairs. When Harrison went down to investigate,

he spotted an intruder.

''He stopped in the center of the kitchen and started shouting and

screaming,'' the statement said. ''He was hysterical and frightening

in his manner.''

''I made the decision to shout back at him,'' it continued. ''I

shouted at him 'Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna!' He rushed toward the

bottom of the stairs and came up toward me. I took a split-second

decision to tackle this man.''

Harrison was pinned down by the intruder, who began stabbing him.

After Olivia Harrison, 52, managed to knock the man off by hitting

him with a brass poker, he began attacking her, prosecutors said.

He then turned his attention back to Harrison.

''He again got the better of me. At that point, I felt exposed and

could feel the strength drain from me,'' Harrison said. ''I vividly

remember a deliberate thrust of the knife toward my chest. I felt my

chest deflate and the flow of blood toward my mouth. I believed I had

been fatally stabbed.''

The intruder then repeatedly struck him with a table lamp before

police arrived and restrained him, Harrison said.

Prosecutor Simon Mayo said psychiatric experts had concluded Abram

was suffering from a delusion that he had been possessed by George

Harrison.

''He thought he had been sent on a mission by God to kill George

Harrison,'' Mayo said. ''The experts concluded that undoubtedly Abram

intended to kill Mr. Harrison, but he didn't realize that to do so

was wrong because of his deluded belief about being possessed by Mr.

Harrison.''

''The central issue to resolve in the case is whether at the time of

the incident, the defendant was sane or insane,'' the prosecutor

added.

Mayo said train tickets were found in Abram's possession indicating

he had traveled down from the Liverpool area to commit the attack.

Abram also had traveled to Oxfordshire on a number of previous

occasions to find out where Harrison lived, he said.