The Daily Mirror
A POSTMAN who stabbed his wife 32 times and then showed the dead body to her father has been convicted of murder.
Richard Otunga, 37, was convinced his wife Shamim Gabriel, 33, was having an affair despite police saying there was no evidence to prove it.
The couple married in 2003 but the relationship was a violent one, the Old Bailey heard during his murder trial.
Otunga was a controlling and possessive husband who regularly checked his wife’s phone and had beaten her in the past.
In one incident in July 2013 Otunga held a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her.
A few months later he threatened to run a man over in his car who was texting his wife and murder Ms Gabriel.
On 5am on Sunday, December 29th, Otunga called Mr Gabriel and said he had fought with his wife but there were no serious injuries.
Mr Gabriel took a taxi to his daughter’s home in Northolt, Middlesex, and Otunga ushered him in.
Prosecuting at the Old Bailey, Tim Cray said: “He found the defendant in the hallway and noted two things – that all the internal doors were closed and that a mobile phone had been smashed into pieces in the hallway.
“The defendant told Mr Gabriel that Shamim had been talking to another man and was always being praised for her beauty by other men.
“He said that he had lost consciousness and control, that he was very sorry about what he had done and what had happened to Shamim.
“Otunga opened the kitchen door and Mr Gabriel saw that his daughter was lying on the floor, and his impression was that she was naked apart from a pair of pants.
“She had been stabbed many times and the kitchen was covered in blood.”
Mr Gabriel asked Otunga: ‘Is this what you called me for, to show me the body of my daughter?’
Otunga made no reply and repeated he was ‘very sorry.’
He later told officers: “I killed her. She was getting text messages from men at work, we both work for Royal Mail.
“We argued and she went to the kitchen and picked up a knife and said she would kill herself, so I took it and killed her.”
PA
Otunga of Taywood Road, Northolt, admitted manslaughter but denied murder.
Mr Cray said: “The fatal attack was not some sudden or unusual event but rather a culmination of violent behaviour on the part of the defendant towards his wife, including previous threats to kill her – he had thought about it before.”
The Old Bailey jury convicted Otunga of murder and he is due to be sentenced on Monday.
Detective Chief Inspector Chris Jones of the Homicide and Major Crime Command (HMCC) said: “Richard Otunga was a jealous controlling man who could not accept his wife having any contact with other men.
“Otunga tried to convince the jury that he had feared an immediate threat of violence from his wife and then lost control.
“The jury clearly did not accept this and have returned a verdict of murder.
“He tried to state that his wife had been having affairs but there was no evidence whatsoever to substantiate this.
“The family of Shamim who have had to give evidence at court have acted with great dignity and I hope that this conviction can be some comfort for them.”
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