Testimony: 'Please don't kill me!'

[suchandra 1]

Murder trial - A woman who survived a 2003 Portland attack tells a jury what her husband said before he died

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

ANNE SAKER

The door slowly opened, and into the bedroom walked Satya Krishna Dasa, covered in blood.

Staring at the quaking woman sitting on the bed, he put a finger to his lips for silence. He sat beside her. He put one hand on her shoulder. Then with the other hand, the woman testified Monday, Dasa pulled out a steak knife and slipped the blade between her ribs.

Her 2-year-old son, still in pajamas, stood in a corner crying out, "No, Mama! No, Mama!"

The woman on the bed, Rebeca Webster, survived that night to pour out her memories to a Multnomah County Circuit Court jury on the first day of Dasa's trial on charges of aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder. She told a story of two couples bonded in Hare Krishna beliefs and destroyed by infidelity and jealousy.

If the seven men and five women convict Dasa, 31, he could face the death penalty. The trial before Circuit Judge Michael McShane is expected to last at least a month.

In her opening statement, Deputy District Attorney Stacy Heyworth said that on the night of Dec. 19, 2003, Dasa drove to the Portland home of Yuri Bukshin, 31, once his best friend. Heyworth said Dasa bludgeoned Bukshin with a socket wrench then picked up a chef's knife and stabbed him repeatedly. Mortally wounded, Bukshin crawled to his front door and unlocked it before he died; one photograph showed a bloody handprint on the door's exterior.

Webster, 28, the star witness Monday, recounted under Heyworth's questioning that she had met and married Bukshin in 1999; they had a son in 2001. She testified that Bukshin and Dasa, whose given name was Josh Jerome, had long been friends; Dasa looked up to the Russian-born Bukshin.

As part of the spiritual journey that is the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Dasa traveled to India in 2003 to study with a guru. He left his wife, Janet Jerome, in Eugene to rear their four daughters until his return.

Webster said that in February 2003, Janet Jerome called Bukshin and asked for help on a weekend project. He agreed. But on his return, Webster said she could tell that something had changed. By May, she knew that Bukshin and Jerome were having an affair, and Webster left Bukshin. She moved to a house in the 5400 block of Northeast 47th Avenue.

They tried reconciling, but, "He was already decided that he didn't love me and was moving on," she testified. She moved again; Bukshin stayed in the house.

Dasa was enraged to learn of the affair, and his parents sent him to Australia to cool off. He returned to Eugene in December 2003, apparently still angry.

Webster testified that on the night of Dec. 19, Bukshin came home after a weeklong business trip. Webster, who had stayed at the Northeast 47th Avenue house to care for their son, decided to spend the night in a separate bedroom. She said Bukshin agreed that she could stay but she had to leave in the morning because Janet Jerome was due to visit.

Shortly after midnight Dec. 20, Webster testified that she awakened to the sound of furniture moving. She rose, went into the living room and saw Dasa in the kitchen, standing beside her husband at the sink and holding a Pampered Chef knife high. Blood had soaked Bukshin's white T-shirt.

"I said, 'What's going on here?' " Webster recalled. "Yuri was silent. Josh said, 'Get in your son's room now!' And he glared at me."

She went into the room where her son slept on a mattress on the floor and found her cell phone. She called 9-1-1 and whispered to the dispatcher. Then she put the phone, still connected, under the bedcovers.

Heyworth asked, "Could you hear anything from the kitchen?"

"I heard Yuri say, 'No, no, please don't kill me!' " Webster replied.

The house fell quiet, and Webster frantically planned an escape. Then Dasa opened the bedroom door and entered, "bloody and breathing heavy. His eyes were all big and glossy. He had sweat and blood on his face."

As Dasa shushed her, Webster testified that she believes she told Dasa, "I was on the same side, so to speak. We were both cheated on."

"Was that working?" Heyworth asked.

"No."

Webster testified that Dasa stabbed her under her left breast then at least three times in the chest. Just as he was about to plunge the knife into her heart, Webster said, she grabbed the blade. It snapped from the hilt. The tape of the 9-1-1 call picked up Webster's screams and her son's wails.

Webster said Dasa grabbed a pillow and put it over her face. But help had arrived: "As he had the pillow on me, I heard the Portland police," Webster said.

The trial resumes today.

Anne Saker: 503-294-7656; annesaker@news.oregonian.com

[theist 1]

Omg

[Bhakta Don Muntean 0]

I HOPE THEY FRY THIS LOSER! Just see where lust goes - just see!

 

BTW this guy was not a devotee as a real devotee would not even care about the issues that led to this.

 

This is why I [for the most part] shun people - including devotees one never knows if they might end up being

 

I pray for the people here and I hope that 'dasa' enjoys prision...and later - hell.

 

BDM

 

This aught to be a good lesson for lusty people who flirt with other's spouces - it is a common issue and it is not limited to devotees [for all you others reading this] - keep your hands in your bead bag [and off of others].