Life is stranger than fiction: Love hurts

A man pleaded guilty in the Brisbane District Court to causing grievous bodily harm with intent to his wife.

The court was told the man arrived home early and told his wife that he had an early birthday present for her. He took her into their bedroom, laid her on the bed, tied her hands with a scarf and blindfolded her with another one and then played the romantic song I Swear on the CD player. He kissed her on the forehead and sang the last verse of the song* to her, before he jumped on her and stabbed her in the stomach.

She struggled with him and managed to hit him over the head with a perfume bottle before running out into the street and getting help from a passing postman.

The couple lived in a luxury house and she had been under the illusion that they had a happy marriage. The man - who had worked as a call centre operator - had told her he had a new job with a major bank, even going to the lengths of fabricating a letter which said he would eventually earn $200,000 a year. In fact, he lost his call centre job five days before the attack.

The motive for the attack appeared to be the unravelling of a web of lies that he had told his wife - particularly because they were due to leave for an overseas holiday which he couldn't pay for. The judge said it seemed the man had intended to stab himself but somehow came to stab his wife instead.

* For better or worse; Till death do us part; I'll love you with every beat of my heart; And I swear ...