A former manager of an international bank was stabbed in the chest by his wife during a heated row at their Warrington home.
The couple, who had been married for 11 years and have a nine-year-old son, moved to Great Sankey from Hong Kong last July and had a loving relationship.
But Liverpool Crown Court heard yesterday (Tuesday) how an argument developed between Ching Lin and her husband, Chiken Eng, on November 5 after they returned home from Cosco.
Lin challenged him about his lack of involvement in household work and when the row escalated he went upstairs so they could calm down, said Chris Taylor, prosecuting.
“He was in the bedroom looking at a firework display with his back to the door but he turned round when he heard the defendant come in. She was shouting something in a loud voice, appearing angry and emotional.
“She was clearly upset and with tears in her eyes. He saw a knife in her left hand, a small knife about ten centimetres in length and recognised it from the kitchen,” said Mr Taylor.
They stood face to face and she continued the argument and he argued back but did not raise his voice.
“Suddenly and unexpectedly she slapped him across the face, not particularly hard. It caught him by surprise and his glasses flew off and he did not know what he was thinking but immediately slapped her back, not hard.
“At that point she raised the knife in her left hand upwards and stabbed him once in the lower chest area. It happened very quickly and was about two inches below his left nipple, and he felt it ‘hurt like hell’,” he said.
He was taken to hospitable by ambulance and a CT scan revealed internal bleeding but no internal organs had been damaged. He was detained in hospital for a week. While he has 80% recovered he still has some issues, said Mr Taylor.
Mr Eng told police that life had been stressful since they moved from Hong Kong in 2021 where he worked for an international bank and they did not have family support. He said the incident had happened in the “heat of the moment” and he did not want to support her prosecution.
In an impact statement, he told how he had been “forced out” of their family home since the incident and there was hostility towards him from the community.
He had been working for a regional distribution centre since moving here meaning a loss in income which caused issues.
40-year-old Lin, whose address was given as no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to wounding.
Her lawyer Ronan Maguire said that the basis of plea was “although she deliberately pushed him it was not a deliberate stabbing and she did not intend the blade to penetrate his skin.
“This was a stressful and anxious moment in the family home. In the background were fireworks which to some extent added to the stress of the incident.”
Mr Maguire said, “She has expressed deep sorrow for the consequences of her actions, both for the injuries he sustained and the inconvenience that he has clearly been put to.”
Judge Stuart Driver, KC, sentenced Lin, who has no previous convictions, to 12 months imprisonment suspended for 12 months and ordered her to carry out 20 days of rehabilitation activities.
He told the defendant, who wiped away tears in the dock, that she had been acting in excessive self-defence. He said she had used a highly dangerous weapon “but it was a spontaneous and short-lived assault.”
