Wrexham man jailed after stabbing ex-partner with scissors

Sureshkumar Thuruirajah, of Kingsmills Road in Wrexham, appeared for sentence at Mold Crown Court on Thursday.

The 52-year-old pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to an offence of wounding with intent.

Laura Knightly, prosecuting, told the court the victim in relation to the offence was Sathiyabriya Sorubakanphan, the defendant's estranged wife.

In April last year, they had separated but continued to have contact for the benefit of their two children.

The defendant had a key to her home to enable his visits.

But unbeknown to the victim, Thuruirajah began to use a hidden camera which he would move around the property in order to watch who she had been speaking to.

"His jealousy was the catalyst for the assault which followed," Ms Knightly said - as the victim entered a new relationship with someone she'd met online.

On April 12 last year, Ms Sorubakanphan was at home talking to her boyfriend on the phone.

She received a call from the defendant that evening, confronting her and telling her he was coming to the property to kill her.

He arrived there at 9pm and confronted her again, about who she'd been speaking to.

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After playing a recording of her speaking to another man, Thuruirajah picked up a large pair of cloth-cutting scissors.

He grabbed her hair in one hand and began hacking at it with the scissors, telling her: "I'm going to shave your head and then I'm going to punish you."

When she told him she was bleeding, he said: "Let it come - you will bleed and die."

He then struck her numerous times with the scissors to her head, neck, back and groin.

Ms Sorubakanphan feared she was about to die and screamed for hep - eventually managing to push past him and flee into the street.

A man at a nearby chip shop saw the victim running into the street, "covered in blood from head to toe" and holding a towel to her head.

Thuruirajah's attack caused numerous injuries, including wounds to her back, both shoulders, and groin.

One of the injuries was a "de-gloving" of the skin on her scalp at the forehead.

Doctors confirmed the victim had sustained injuries consistent with stabbing.

She also sustained an injury to her left hand which resulted in a complete loss of sensation to two of her fingers.

Following the assault, Thuruirajah fled the scene and called his priest.

He met the priest and told him what he'd done - with the priest then calling the police.

In interview, Thuruirajah claimed his ex-partner had cut her own hair and that she had been the one to lunge at him with the scissors.

Thuruirajah Sureshkumar (NWP) (Image: North Wales Police) He couldn't explain how she had been injured.

Some days after his arrest, his camera at the victim's home was discovered - hidden in a shoebox decorated with Christmas paper.

His mobile was found to have an app to view via the camera and some 1,855 still images had been taken, as well as 189 videos.

Myles Wilson, defending, asked the court to give the defendant credit for his guilty plea - adding some delay had occurred in the case due to uncertainty over his fitness to plead.

But Judge Rhys Rowlands replied by saying psychiatrists had concluded "a significant amount of what he was saying wasn't true."

The Judge said while the defendant may have difficulties, he had been manipulative and had contributed to the delay by telling untruths.

His manipulative behaviour had also been demonstrated in a previous offence, the Judge said, when he carried out a bomb hoax in Liverpool.

He'd done that because he was "terrified of returning to Sri Lanka" and had been jailed as a result.

Mr Wilson continued: "I submit the psychiatric picture is not especially clear.

"The joint statement from the psychiatrists concludes that at the time the defendant was likely suffering from a mental disorder that may have impacted on his behaviour.

"The one point he wanted me to make on his behalf was how terrible he felt about his actions on this date in April last year.

"This is a very serious offence and he has never done anything like this before."

Judge Rowlands said any suggestion that the defendant felt "terrible" about what he'd done had a "hollow ring to it."

The Judge concluded Thuruirajah met the criteria of a dangerous offender and opted to impose an extended sentence of eight years.

That comprises five years and eight months custody and an extended licence period of two years and four months.

He must serve at least two thirds of the custodial term before eh can be assessed for release on licence by the parole board.