In 2012, the Offender Database reported that Michael Saunders, the Swindon Domestic Abuser, then 49, from Swindon, inflicted facial lacerations on Zoe Fotherington and stabbed her multiple times in the chest with a kitchen knife.
Bristol Crown Court was informed that Ms Fotherington, then 27, was sent to the hospital following the girl’s entreaty to her father to summon an ambulance.
Michael Saunders, having confessed to attempted murder, was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
The couple’s two-year-old son was slumbering in his cot during the assault on 11 December 2011, as shown in court.
The four-year-old girl was able to give a clear account to the police, telling them: “Daddy had the knife. It was a big knife.
“He tipped the knife upside down and went like this (demonstrating a downward stabbing motion). Mummy got hit on the head.”
The girl added: “Daddy told Mummy to die, and he told the police that Mummy had a knife, but she didn’t. That was a lie.”
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