• Krishnan Raju stabbed and strangled his wife, suspecting she was cheating on him
• It turned out that she had indeed been having an affair with a colleague
• Psychiatrists said he was suffering from delusional disorder (jealous type) at the time

SINGAPORE — Thinking that his wife of 28 years was having an affair, Krishnan Raju snapped one evening after listening to an audio file of her conversation with another man that he had secretly recorded.

He stabbed her several times while she was in the shower in their Loyang condominium and strangled her when she started to scream. 

He then fled to Johor Baru, Malaysia in his car before surrendering to the police at Woodlands Checkpoint the next morning.

While he had no concrete evidence that his wife, 44-year-old Raithena Vaithena Samy, was cheating on him, it turned out that she was indeed sleeping with a male colleague.

On Friday (Sept 18), Krishnan, 53, was sentenced to 10 years’ jail in the High Court. He had pleaded guilty in July to culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

After his arrest, he was diagnosed with having a delusional disorder (jealous type) at the time. Psychiatrists said that the condition impaired his judgement and made him unable to make rational decisions.

However, he could still understand the nature and consequences of his actions, they added.

Justice Hoo Sheau Peng agreed with the prosecution’s psychiatrist that Krishnan was also in a state of acute alcohol intoxication, but that it was a minor contributing factor to his offence.

It was not a premeditated attack — he had been triggered by the audio recording, and he had shown remorse by trying to kill himself afterwards, surrendering to the police the next day and pleading guilty, Justice Hoo said.

Krishnan could have been jailed for life or up to 20 years. While the offence carries possible caning, offenders aged above 50 cannot be caned by law.

'VERY POSSESSIVE'

Previously, prosecutors told the court that Krishnan was “very possessive” of his wife throughout their relationship. 

Reithena began having an affair with a colleague in November 2016, and their marriage began to deteriorate.

Even though he had no evidence, Krishnan started accusing Reithena of infidelity, sometimes in front of their children and family members.

She soon told him that she wanted a divorce.

In early October 2017, Krishnan retrieved a knife and threatened to kill himself after an argument.

Reithena then moved out of the master bedroom and began sleeping in their daughter’s room. Soon after, Krishnan planted an audio device there.

As their relationship worsened, Reithena would stay out all day and only return home to sleep.

On the night of Oct 26, 2017, Krishnan came home and retrieved some audio recordings from the device.

Upon hearing Raithena mention another man’s name and laugh in the recordings, he believed that she was laughing at him and suspected that she was sleeping with the man talking to her.

At about 9pm that day, Reithena returned home and got into the shower. By this time, Krishnan had drunk a full bottle of gin with an alcohol content of 43 per cent.

He took a knife and hammer and went to the bathroom. He stabbed her, then dragged her to the master bedroom, leaving a trail of blood on the toilet bowl seat and the floor.

In the bedroom, he stabbed her again and strangled her until she fell silent and stopped moving.

He then began sending a string of phone text messages to Reithena’s nephew in a bid to delay him, as he was about to take Krishnan’s daughter home.

In his haste to escape, he left the front door open and a trail of blood leading to the basement car park. He also sent text messages that read “forgave me” (sic) to other family members.

He eventually fled to Johor Baru and stayed with his older brother there overnight.

The couple’s daughter returned home around midnight with her cousin and discovered her mother dead in their home. 

Krishnan returned to Singapore at about 10.45am the next day and surrendered himself.

A pathologist found more than 20 stab wounds on Reithena’s face, abdomen and limbs. She also suffered 17 incised wounds on her scalp and limbs, along with other blunt force injuries.