THE wife of an opposition politician was sentenced to 16 years on Tuesday for slashing and killing her brother-in-law last year.
China-born Wu Yun Yun, 26, married to opposition politician Tan Lead Shake, was originally charged with murder.
She pleaded guilty on April 17 to culpable homicide for killing Lead Sane, 34, as well as attempted culpable homicide for her attack on his wife, Madam Huang Meizhe, 34, at their Paya Lebar home. Madam Huang, also from China, was slashed in the neck but survived.
The High Court heard that Wu, 26, suffered from major depression, which qualified her for the defence of diminished responsibility. Another charge of hurting her mother-in-law, Madam Ng Bee Hion, 63, was considered in sentencing.
Wu came from China in 2001 to marry Lead Shake, 40, an opposition candidate who has contested two elections unsuccessfully. The couple lived in a house in Paya Lebar Crescent with Lead Shake's mother, his unmarried elder brother Lead Hand, Lead Sane, and his wife.
Wu's relationship with her husband and his family became strained and, in the last seven years, she returned to China four times, sometimes without telling her husband. She also became jealous of Lead Sane and his wife, as they appeared to enjoy the support and love of Madam Ng. Unlike the couple, Wu was often the target of Madam Ng's criticism.
Wu began to harbour thoughts of killing her brother-in-law, and she bought a fruit knife for $2.50 and hid it under the kitchen sink. On June 27, she took it to her bedroom on the second level of the house. Waking up at 5.30am the next day, she went into the adjoining bedroom where Madam Huang was sleeping, and stabbed her in the neck.
The commotion woke Lead Sane, who was sleeping in a makeshift bed on the balcony of the bedroom. He was stabbed twice in the chest and once in the abdomen as he sat up on the bed. When Madam Ng tried to stop Wu from leaving the house, she too was slashed.
