George Harrison shouted ''Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna!

12-16-2000, 08:09 AM

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.