Stalker tells court: I didn't mean to scare Uma

A former psychiatric patient who terrified Uma Thurman and made her fear for the safety of her two young children said today he never meant to frighten the star.

Jack Jordan, who denies stalking and aggravated harassment, told a jury at the Manhattan Supreme Court he “was not trying to scare her” and described his actions as a “clumsy and poor way of expressing my emotions for her”.

The Kill Bill actress said she felt “sick” and “completely freaked out” by Jordan in relation to a series of incidents over almost three years.

Jordan, 37, had a fantasy that the star was “pre-destined” to be with him, that she would only be happy if they were together, and once said that his hands should be on her body “at all times”, the court heard.

He also told Thurman’s parents that he would kill himself unless he could see her, tried to get into her trailer during filming, and even turned up at the New York home she shares with her two young children between early 2005 and shortly before his arrest in October last year.

Yesterday, the actress’s hands visibly shook as she held up one of the cards Jordan sent her.

It showed a drawing of an open grave, a headstone and a man standing on the edge of a razor blade.

A spiral of random words referred to “chocolate, mouth, soft, kissing” and declared: “My hands should be on your body at all times.”

Today, Jordan told the jury panel of eight women and six men: “I felt I was walking on the razor’s edge. I felt that it reflected this relationship that I unfortunately imagined that we had.

“This cartoon was meant to amuse her, to endear me to her.”

He said he could now see how it would have scared her and added that telling her family he would kill himself if he could not meet her “was a clumsy and poor way of expressing my emotions for her”.

“I wasn’t feeling suicidal, but I was expressing a depth of feeling that was very distressing,” he said.

“In a misguided way I was trying to give her an opportunity to meet me and give myself an opportunity to meet her.

“I was feeling distressed. I had this feeling of longing for Ms Thurman and I was trying to explain it. I was not trying to scare her in any way.”

Jordan, who lives with his parents in Gaithersburg, Maryland, said he was “humiliated” by the trial and the fact that his private affections for the Oscar-nominated Pulp Fiction actress had become so public.

Yesterday, Thurman, who turned 38 this week, told the court Jordan’s physical presence outside her Greenwich Village home in New York last August escalated the problem which had plagued her and her family for three years.

“I felt afraid. I felt afraid now for my life,” she said.

“I realised this was a very dangerous situation. I was frightened for the lives of my children and myself.”

Thurman repeatedly said she “completely freaked out” over the incident and felt “sick”, “frightened” and “panicked”.

“The whole thing is a nightmare,” she said.

“That’s my home. That’s the only safe place to be and there’s this person refusing to leave. I was afraid for my children because of the trauma that all this causes.”

Referring to Maya, nine, and Levon, six, she said: “I feel terrible that my children have to experience this. I don’t know where they put it because they’re happy children.”

During three hours of direct testimony, Thurman was often close to tears, but never cried.

She could be heard taking a series of deep breaths whenever her voice started to break, and on several occasions she covered her face with the palm of her hand and composed herself before continuing.

At one point she turned her head to the wall, rested her head on her arm and closed her eyes during legal arguments which took place in front of the jury.

And she always looked directly away from Jordan whenever she was not being questioned by the prosecution.

When leaving the courtroom, she waited until she was behind Jordan, and out of his sight, before turning her head to look at him.

Jordan, who is on $10,000 bail, faces up to a year in jail if convicted of stalking and aggravated harassment.

The trial continues.