PUBLISHED ONNovember 05, 2016 8:00 AMBySelina Lum
SINGAPORE - He bought the knife, shouted "Die!" in Tamil when he attacked his wife, but blamed her in his mitigation.
Yesterday, Indian national Krishnan Karunakaran, 45, was sentenced to eight years' jail and nine strokes of the cane.
He had slashed the throat of his estranged wife after she rebuffed his demands to help him stay in Singapore and let him see their one-year-old daughter.
In his mitigation, Krishnan claimed that they separated after his wife had an affair.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohamed Faizal took issue with the "false narrative" and rejected the assertion that the separation was the victim's fault. He argued that the attempt to pin the blame on the victim highlighted that Krishnan "absolutely shows no remorse".
In sentencing Krishnan, Justice Chan Seng Onn said: "There's no reason for you to resort to such violence, even if you desperately wanted to see your daughter. You should have resorted to the legal process and not take matters into your own hands.
"You are lucky that she survived, or you would be facing a far more serious charge."
On the morning of Oct 27, 2013, Krishnan waited for his Singaporean wife Boomichelvi Ramasamy, 38, at the lift lobby of her Hougang block. Krishnan, who had a knife tucked under his singlet, barged inside the lift when he saw her.
He then made her walk towards her flat before slashing her in front of her nine-year-old daughter from a previous marriage and her maid.
The domestic helper opened the gate to help her bleeding employer while her daughter called the police. Krishnan also called the police and was arrested at the void deck.
The victim, a teacher, survived the life-threatening injury, which severed her internal jugular vein, a major blood vessel. She was discharged from hospital two days after emergency surgery.
Krishnan had pleaded guilty on Tuesday to one charge of attempted culpable homicide and one charge of criminal intimidation. Two other charges - for trying to stab Madam Boomichelvi's abdomen and for threatening her domestic worker - were taken into consideration.
Krishnan's lawyer, Mr Eugene Thuraisingam, said his client was frustrated and desperate because his wife refused to help him extend his visa and blocked him from seeing his baby daughter. He noted that Krishnan had bought the knife to threaten, not kill, his wife and that only one cut was inflicted.
Yesterday, the prosecutor told the court that Krishnan's actions were premeditated and that he had no qualms about carrying out the assault in front of the victim's young child.
He said the victim, who now has a phobia of people going near her, sold the flat at a loss because she could not stand the idea of living there after the incident.
The prosecutor sought nine years' jail and nine strokes of the cane for attempted culpable homicide, and between 12 and 18 months' jail for criminal intimidation.
The couple had married in a temple ceremony in India in 2011 and Krishnan, who ran a herbal medicine business, came to Singapore in July 2012.
They separated less than a year later.
This article was first published on Nov 05, 2016.
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