Man stabbed wife's friend in revenge attack over divorce
Thinking that his wife's friend was behind his broken marriage, Muhammad Faizal Mohamed Salleh, 30, stabbed the friend multiple times.
Yesterday, Faizal was sentenced to five years and two weeks' jail and given eight strokes of the cane for one charge of causing grievous hurt with a dangerous weapon and another for assault.
Last August, Faizal's wife, 24, had gone to stay at the 23-year-old victim's home for about a month.
When she returned, she told Faizal she wanted to divorce him and leave their home.
She moved into the victim's home the next day.
Faizal later realised his wife had blocked him on Facebook.
He then created a fake profile and befriended his wife as he wanted to find out her reasons for refusing to return home.
He then learnt his wife was going out with other men, and blamed the victim for his broken marriage and for being a bad influence on his wife.
He used his friend's Facebook account to befriend the victim, then talked to her for a month and pretended to have feelings for her.
In October, he asked her out and they agreed to meet at a void deck in Queenstown.
He hid behind a wall with a knife then attacked her from behind, stabbing her right side and her ear multiple times with a 15cm-long knife.
The victim tried to defend herself by pulling his jacket.
They fell to the ground and Faizal kicked her hands away when she tried to grab his legs.
He then grabbed her mobile phone by mistake and fled, discarding his jacket and knife.
That night, he realised he had taken her phone so he switched it off and threw it away.
He was arrested the next day.
The victim suffered injuries on her neck, chest, and hand.
Faizal had also assaulted his wife and locked her in their home after she told him she wanted to divorce him.
Two other charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.
In mitigation, his lawyer said there was an underlying build up of stress and emotions in his state of mind caused by the love for his wife.
This, said the lawyer, had masked his rationality during the attacks.
The penalty for causing grievous hurt with a dangerous weapon is jail for life or up to 15 years, and also fine or caning.
For assault, it is jail up to two years and a fine of up to $5,000.
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