A man in the United Kingdom has been sentenced to life imprisonment for stabbing his Indian origin wife to death following an argument on the Christmas day last year.
The 47-year-old Laurens Brand, who was charged with murder, used two kitchen knives to repeatedly stab his 41-year-old wife, Angela Mittal, in 2018.
At a sentencing hearing at Reading Crown Court on Friday, Brand was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 16 years and eight months’ imprisonment. Angela had suffered 59 stab wounds to her chest and neck and died at the scene at their residence in Shinfield, Berkshire.
Sentencing Brand, Judge Heather Norton said: “You stabbed your wife in the bedroom of the family home. Your attack on her was ferocious. You stabbed your wife no fewer than 59 times.
“At some point in the course of that attack, one knife broke. You left the room, you went to the kitchen, you fetched another knife and then returned.”
According to a court hearing, the forensic evidence suggests that the victim was alive and making every effort to defend herself through much of that attack.
The court heard how Brand had emotionally and physically abused his “formerly bubbly and outgoing wife”.
The police expressed their sympathy for the victim’s family during an “extremely difficult” time.
Angela’s family, including father Bharat and mother Kamla Mittal, paid tribute to her, describing her as a popular young lady known for her “sweet and enduring wit”. They said in a statement: “Her life was tragically cut short due to a senseless crime.”
