Man in Monthey sentenced to 20 years imprisonment – 34 knife wounds inflicted on wife
A 45-year-old man was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a court in Monthey, Valais, for the murder of his wife. He had killed her with 34 knife stabs and wounded their daughter.
District Court Monthey imposes 20 years in prison for spousal murder
The District Court of Monthey sentenced a 45-year-old man to 20 years in prison on Tuesday for murder. According to Google News CH — Crime (de), the convicted man had killed his wife with 34 knife stabs on 3 August 2023 and wounded their daughter in the process.
The naturalised Swiss citizen, originally from North Macedonia, attacked his wife following an argument over money whilst under the influence of alcohol. He then stabbed her a total of 34 times, using five kitchen knives in succession; a blade broke four times in the process. The victim sustained numerous injuries to the neck, face and upper body.
The couple's daughter attempted to protect her mother during the attack and was wounded on her hands. She pushed her father to the ground, whereupon he stabbed himself in the chest with a knife. The daughter managed to disarm him. The attack ended only with the arrival of police.
The court convicted the man additionally of aggravated simple assault against his daughter. Court President Florent Boissard described the killing at sentencing as particularly cruel: the defendant had given his wife no chance. Without the slightly diminished culpability due to alcohol consumption, a life sentence would have been imposed, according to Boissard. The court was furthermore not convinced of the man's sincere remorse.
The court regarded the motive for the act as particularly reprehensible: according to the judgment, the trigger was merely suspicions about the use of shared funds.
The sentence is significantly above the prosecutor's request. Prosecutor Emmanuelle Raboud had sought 16 years in prison. The defence had instead argued for voluntary manslaughter rather than murder and demanded six years in prison. Defence counsel Pauline Elsig described the imposed sentence as "extraordinarily severe" and announced that she would examine with her client whether the judgment would be appealed to the cantonal court.
The prosecution described it as an exceptional outburst of violence: the man repeatedly fetched new knives after the blades of the previously used knives had broken.
The defendant apologised in court to his children and asked them for forgiveness. The court granted both children compensation: the son receives approximately 172,000 francs, the daughter 80,000 francs.
Source: Google News CH — Crime (de)