Thaindian News

As she stood to testify on Thursday, Olympic Gymnast Shawn Johnson seemed to remain pretty composed and calm, until the moment that the prosecutor showed her the knife which was found in the car of the man who has been accused of stalking her.

Her voice cracked at the sight of the knife, and she admitted her fear of the stalker. “I didn’t know him,” she told the court. “He was a stranger to me. To see somebody had that much kind of obsession, it made me really scared.”

Shawn Johnson was testifying against Robert O’Ryan, who stands accused of breaking into a studio in order to meet the Olympic Gold medalist. The break in occurred during her competition in the ABC television show, “Dancing With The Stars”.

Wendy Segall, the prosecutor also showed Johnson, who is 18 years old, a handgun and a bulletproof vest which was allegedly found in the possession of O’Ryan during his arrest in March. He is accused of harboring a very dangerous obsession for the gymnast, who was 17 years old at the time that O’Ryan allegedly traveled from Florida to Los Angeles in hopes of meeting and marrying her.

The accused is pleading ‘Not guilty by reason of insanity’ to the charges of felony stalking and burglary charges. While Johnson was on the stand for 23 minutes, O’Ryan sat quietly and showed no reaction. If convicted, a judge will decide whether or not he is legally insane.

O’Ryan claims to have been communicating with many people on television telepathically, including rappers Ludacris and Lil Jon, as well as daytime soap opera stars. He says that he began to chat with Johnson through ESP when she was competing at the Beijing Olympics, where she won a gold medal.

The case is expected by prosecutors to be concluded by today. Since O’Ryan has waived his right to a trial by jury, his fate will be up to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor.