Victim of Stabbing Attack Testifies : Courts: The Ventura veterinarian says his ex-fiancee pulled a knife and wounded him 22 times before an amateur wrestler came to his rescue.

He was her veterinarian, her lover and then her victim, when she stabbed him 22 times just minutes after kissing him goodby, prosecutors said.

“This is a very emotional case,” Deputy Public Defender Donna Forry told a Municipal Court judge at a preliminary hearing for Jeannette Smith. She is charged with attempting to murder east Ventura veterinarian Jeffrey K. Saur, her ex-fiance.

In testimony Wednesday, Saur told of first treating Smith’s cat, then falling in love with the pet owner.

“I was in love with her, and marriage was definitely on my mind,” he said.

But Smith lost her job as a travel agent, the relationship deteriorated, and Saur broke off their engagement, he testified.

Then six weeks ago, after he had loaded her belongings into a U-haul trailer, she lunged between him and her car’s steering wheel as they drove on California 126 in Ventura. “(She) kissed me full on the lips, completely obstructing my view of the road,” Saur said.

With Smith’s blond hair blocking his view of the road, and her body between him and the wheel, Saur pulled the car to the side of the freeway and got out, he testified.

“I realized at this point, things were getting too strange for my well-being,” he said.

As he left the car, Saur said, Smith stabbed him in the right shoulder with what was later described as a 4- to 6-inch paring knife. She stabbed herself and then wounded the veterinarian 21 more times, including several times in the groin area, prosecutors said.

Saur said he panicked. “I thought, someone get her off me,” he said.

He was rescued by an amateur wrestler from Woodland Hills who was driving the same route with his girlfriend.

The towering 25-year-old wrestler, Matthew Halpert, testified that he saw Smith standing over Saur, “stabbing him over and over again, whenever she could and wherever she could.”

Halpert said he grabbed her from behind in a bear hug and pinned her to the ground with a wrestler’s move.

Halpert said that Smith bit him on the wrist as he restrained her. While they waited for police, Smith said that Saur “made me do it,” Halpert said. She then told the wrestler to kill her.

The preliminary hearing is scheduled to resume at 8 a.m. today.