SINGAPORE:, April 05, 2005
Kanta Patel

NRI Balakrishnan Doraisamy has admitted in court to killing his wife of 18 years when she refused to give him money for his pregnant Indonesian mistress.

After stabbing his 57-year-old wife, Balakrishnan Doraisamy removed her thali (a Hindu wedding chain the groom ties around the bride’s neck) and took another gold chain from her jewellery box.

Balakrishnan, 64, suffered a heart attack after pawning the gold chain and was warded in hospital, where he was arrested the following day.

Yesterday, the part-time security guard pleaded guilty in the High Court to a charge of manslaughter.

He admitted stabbing Krishnah Amal Govinda Narayanasamy in the neck at their Circuit Road flat around lunchtime on July 11 last year. The fatal wound, which was 8.5cm deep, severed a major artery.

The court heard that Balakrishnan and Krishnah, who worked as a cleaner, often quarrelled over money matters. He was also having an affair with an Indonesian maid working here.

The maid returned to Indonesia after becoming pregnant with his child, and Balakrishnan visited her in May last year.

Desperate for money as she was about to give birth, Balakrishnan first tried to borrow some from his employer on July 11, but failed. He then returned home and asked his wife for money and jewellery.

When Krishnah refused, he grabbed a knife from the kitchen and stabbed her on the right side of her neck. He washed the knife, put it back in a small jar with the other knives, and took a bus to the Tekka market, where he pawned the gold chain.

The couple’s daughter, Pramlata Naidu Balakrishnan, came home at 9.30pm to find her mother lying on the floor, the bedroom in disarray and an empty jewellery box on the bed.

Balakrishnan faces life imprisonment or up to 10 years in jail. – The Straits Times / Asia News Network