Assaulter of Sikh spiritual leader wanted to scare victim

A man, who attacked a Sikh religious leader with an axe at a temple in the Britsh city of Leicester last year, told a court that he brought the weapon with the intention of scaring his victim.

Harjit Singh Toor, 27, Wednesday at the Birmingham Crown Court described the moment he swung a three-foot axe at Sri Satguru Uday Singh in front of 300 worshippers at the Namdhari Gurdwara in the city, including members of his family, a media report said.

He admitted launching the axe attack on Uday Singh but denied that he had attempted murder.

Uday Singh, a spiritual head of the Namdhari sect of the Sikhs, was on a visit from India when he was assaulted in the early hours of Aug 10 last year.

During the third day's hearing, Toor admitted that he had hidden an axe under his shawl when he went to the temple.

"I remember thinking, as I was walking up to him, that I just wanted to scare him... and make him realise that I hadn't forgot," the BBC quoted the accused as saying.

"My emotions just erupted and I just remember wanting to hurt his hands. That's when I charged up on to the stage and swung the axe," Toor said.

Describing himself as a mainstream Sikh with no personal animosity towards the Namdhari community, Toor added: "It's probably the biggest mistake I have ever made in my life.

"I accept what I have done was wrong."

According to the Leicester Mercury report, the accused, however stuck to his allegation in the court that he was sexually assaulted by the holy man in India about 20 years ago.

The spiritual leader had, however, said that he had never visited the village in Punjab where the alleged abuse took place and called the allegations "totally absurd."