Morning:
8°c
Nicole Farhi said today she thought she was going to die when she was grabbed round the throat and mugged at knifepoint by two men in the doorway of her Hampstead home.
The fashion designer told a court she passed out as one of the men tightened his grip. As she came round, one of the muggers was pulling her Rolex off her wrist.
Ms Farhi, 62, said: "All I could see was the knife. I said to them, 'Please don't cut me.'" Her screams alerted her husband, playwright Sir David Hare, who chased the men off.
She was giving evidence at Wood Green crown court against Matthew Mykoo, 27, who is accused of wielding the knife while his brother Daniel, 28, was the "strangler".
Ms Farhi said she thought a car had followed her as she drove home at about 11pm in April last year.
She said she got out in the drive to open the garage doors. "When I walked back to my car I noticed a man standing by a pillar outside the driveway and looking at me.
"I walked very quickly to my front door. Then I heard some footsteps.
"The footsteps were very fast and then one hand came onto my eyes and the other onto my throat. He squeezed and I fainted."
She continued: "I fell on top of him and I remember my last thought before I fell was, 'How stupid to die in front of my house'. I fell on top of him and we broke the glass pane on the porch."
Ms Farhi said: "The guy who I think put his hand round my throat was removing a ring from my finger. I had both arms held by two guys, one taking the ring and the other one, the watch. The one with the watch had the knife, a small penknife.
"When I came round I think I heard one of them speak French to the other one, saying, 'Did you take the watch?'
"So I started speaking French to them, saying, 'I'm French like you' and I engaged with them in French, saying, 'How can you do that? We are strangers in this country.' I started talking, talking, talking to them.
"They were listening and suddenly everything slowed down.
"I was looking at the knife all the time and I said to them, 'Do you want some money?' I gave them some money.
"At that stage I was not frightened by them and I asked for my watch back because it had sentimental value and I thought they would give it back. I started speaking louder and louder."
Asked what happened next, she said: "They fled and my husband opened the door. He had heard me speaking French.
"My husband thought I was speaking to my mother. I said, 'I'm not speaking to my mother, I've been mugged.' He said, 'Where are they?' and he ran after them."
The Mykoo brothers are accused of mugging a string of wealthy women using their "strangler-robber" technique around north London suburbs.
Matthew Mykoo, of Brent, denies 16 counts of robbery including the attack on Ms Farhi, but admits two other counts of robbery. He denies taking a car without consent. Daniel Mykoo, of Fulham, has admitted 16 robberies.
The trial continues.
