Woman jailed for strangling mother-in-law

A woman in Nicosia has been sentenced to eight years in prison on attempted murder charges, after she tried to strangle her mother-in-law whom she held responsible for ruining her marriage to her son.

According to local media, a criminal court in Nicosia handed down on Monday an 8-year sentence to a woman in her early 40’s with a history of mental health issues, who attacked her mother-in-law on an early morning in September 2019.

The defendant had gone to the elderly woman’s home, uninvited and unlawfully according to court documents, where the two came face to face in the kitchen. Later, while having a cigarette on the sofa in the living room, the defendant started crying and her ex mother-in-law sat next to her asking what was going on.

Victim chocked until she passed out

Suddenly, the defendant grabbed the woman by the neck and pushed her down between the seat cushions. As the senior citizen started screaming, the attacker used greater force and proceeded to strangle the elderly woman with her bare hands until she passed out.

As the defendant was exiting the residence, the victim’s son entered from the back, where he and the attacker used to live in a shed before breaking up.

The man saw blood on the hands of her ex and immediately rushed to the living room, where he saw his mother on the floor lying on her back with a pillow on her face.

An ambulance rushed the mother to the Emergency Room at Nicosia General Hospital where she was hospitalized with internal bleeding in the brain as a result of a blow to the head. She underwent surgery three months later and was admitted to a rehabilitation facility for another three months.

The court heard from Social Services that the defendant, who was born and raised in Russia, was previously married to a well-to-do Englishman, who was much older than her, with the two having lived together in Paphos before getting a divorce.

Reports said the woman got into a relationship with a younger man, described as Greek Cypriot, with the new couple starting to live together in Nicosia before the divorce was finalized.

The judges heard that the defendant had been battling alcohol and drug addiction, while she was hospitalized at a mental health hospital three times in the past. Her defence attorney also pointed out she had no prior convictions or was not involved in similar offences in the past.

While reading her sentence, the presiding judge said the defendant had full awareness of her actions, citing forethought in the case.

The judges ruled that the defendant exhibited premeditation when she entered the residence with the intent to kill the elderly woman.

“Based on the facts in the case, failing to achieve her goal was a coincidence rather than anything else since, as it has been mentioned, the victim had lost consciousness and the defendant left the scene.”