I feared Mel was going to kill me

THE ex-lover who claims MEL GIBSON punched and choked her told of her terror for the first time yesterday - saying: "I thought he would kill me."

Russian beauty OKSANA GRIGORIEVA claimed the Mad Max star saw red and left blood from her mouth on their baby daughter after he lashed out with his fist.

Oksana, 40, said of the January bust-up at their Malibu mansion: "I was scared for my life and my daughter`s."

She went on: "He just hit me twice with the fist. Boom, boom, to my head and mouth.
"I fell on top of the bed. I`m just covering the baby.

"He proceeds to choke me with both his hands. He was screaming in my face."

She said she then spotted "a little bit of blood" on the chin of tiny Lucia - now 11 months old and at the centre of a bitter custody battle.

Oksana, whose claims are being probed by police, added: "He punched me in the mouth, and the blow brushed her chin." The singer claims Gibson, 54, then waved a gun. She also says in a US mag that a month later he handed the baby to her, saying: "Take her or I`ll hurt her."

Gibson`s lawyers accuse her of lies and attempted blackmail.

sections: Celebrities