George Chanted

[Guest guest]

NOTE THAT GEORGE CHANTED WHEN ATTACKED.

 

 

 

 

BBC NEWS REPORT

 

Tuesday, 14 November, 2000, 17:15 GMT

Harrison: I thought I was dying

 

 

 

Olivia and George Harrison: Only Olivia was in court

 

Ex-Beatle George Harrison has told a court he thought

he had been fatally stabbed by an intruder at his home

last December.

Michael Abram, 34, of Huyton, Merseyside, is accused

of trying to kill Mr Harrison, 57, and his wife

Olivia, 52, after breaking into his home in

Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.

 

 

 

There was blood on the walls, blood on my hands and I

realised that we were going to be murdered

 

Olivia Harrison

Mr Abram is also accused of injuring the star's wife,

Olivia, 52, at their 30-acre estate during the night

of 30 December last year.

 

He has denied two counts of attempted murder by reason

of insanity.

 

The jury will have to decide whether Mr Abram was sane

or insane when the alleged attack took place.

 

The former Beatle made a full recovery from the attack

and gave evidence to Oxford Crown Court in a written

statement.

 

 

 

 

"I shouted at him ***********'Hare Krishna, Hare

Krishna'," **************he said. (EMPHASIS ADDED)

 

 

 

 

"I vividly remember a deliberate thrust of the knife

towards my chest. I felt my chest deflate and the flow

of blood towards my mouth.

 

"I believed I had been fatally stabbed."

 

The court heard how the couple were awoken by a

crashing noise at 0330 GMT.

 

 

 

Michael Abram denies the charges

 

Mr Abram ran up the stairs clutching a knife and a

pole from a broken statue, and began attacking Mr

Harrison, the jury was told.

 

Mrs Harrison told the jury how she tried to save her

husband from the intruder.

 

She said she searched for a weapon, grabbing a brass

poker from another room and then found the pair

grappling by a statue on the landing.

 

"I've never seen my husband look like that. I raised

my hand and hit the man on the back of the head as

many times as I could, as hard as I could. My husband

said: `Get him, get him'."

 

Mrs Harrison was then knocked backwards by Mr Abram

and found herself lying at his feet on the landing,

she said.

 

"There was blood on the walls, blood on my hands and I

realised that we were going to be murdered and this

man was succeeding in murdering us and there was

absolutely nobody else there to help."

 

Simon Mayo, prosecuting, told the jury earlier: "It

was a very serious attack committed by the defendant

on the famous musician George Harrison and also a

serious attack on his wife Olivia."

 

He said that there would be no dispute in the case

that it was Mr Abram who broke into the couple's home.

 

 

"The central issue to resolve in the case is whether

at the time of the incident, the defendant was sane or

insane," said Mr Mayo.

 

 

 

Olivia Harrison, wife of Beatle George, arrives at

court

 

 

The "attack" ended after police stormed the house and

arrested Mr Abram, Mr Mayo said.

 

Mr Mayo added: "He [Mr Abram] thought he had been sent

on a mission by God to kill George Harrison."

 

The husband and wife were taken to the Royal Berkshire

Hospital where Mr Harrison was treated for multiple

stab wounds.

 

A psychiatrist who interviewed Mr Abram deemed him

unfit for police interrogation, the court was told.

 

The jury was told that Mr Abram had travelled down to

Oxfordshire on a number of occasions to find out where

Mr Harrison lived and had on one occasion asked a

cleric about the geography of the area.

 

Mr Abram's trial is expected to last three to four

days.