A frenzied knife attack in Ilam Road by 52-year-old Shiu Prasad killed his wife and injured the man she had left him for, a week after the marriage separation.
People tried to help at the scene of the horrific attack but were kept away by the knife-wielding husband.
The brutal attack – a surprise stab in the back and then multiple wounds from a large kitchen knife – was detailed in the High Court at Christchurch today as Prasad admitted the murder of 28-year-old rest home worker Keshni Naicker.
Prasad stood quietly in the dock as Crown prosecutor Mark Zarifeh read the account of the September 15 attack.
Justice Gerald Nation then remanded Prasad in custody for sentencing on December 7. He asked for a pre-sentence report and a victim impact report.
Prasad also admitted wound Naicker’s new partner with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Prasad and Keshni Naicker had been married since December 2013. On September 8 this year, they had an argument and Naicker moved out of their home in Christchurch. She told Prasad next day that she no longer wanted to be in a relationship with him.
Over the next week, Prasad asked her repeatedly if she was in a relationship with another man, which she denied. He kept phoning and texting, with 108 calls and texts on September 9, and 33 the next day. Naicker usually would not respond.
He said he still loved her, challenged her over having a new boyfriend, and threatened suicide. He threatened to expose her “perceived infidelity” to her family in Fiji.
Naicker had met Asveen Sharan, a 31-year-old meat process worker, online in January 2018, and by the time of her death he was her current partner.
On September 15, Sharan saw a man drive past and stare at him and then stop further up the road as he walked to Naicker’s workplace. The driver was Prasad. Naicker had expressed concerns about him.
Sharan and Naicker met at the Bush Inn and when they were walking on Waimairi Road afterwards, Prasad drove past them.
He texted Naicker afterwards, confronting her about seeing another man. She accused him of following her. He denied following her, but said he would not bother her anymore. He said he would “kill myself now”.
At 7.45pm on September 15, Naicker was due to finish her shift at a rest home in Ilam Road.
Prasad had food and wine and decided to confront and stab Naicker. He took a kitchen knife with a 21cm blade, hid it in a newspaper, and walked to her workplace where he waited for 30min for her shift to finish. He drank more wine as he waited.
Sharan met Naicker so they could walk home together. As they walked together, Prasad ran up behind them and stabbed Naicker in the mid and lower back.
He then stabbed Sharan in the head, and when he fell down Prasad stabbed him another four times – in the chest, back, and arm and shoulder. Naicker was screaming at Prasad to stop, while Sharan was fighting back and calling for her to run away.
She ran towards a vehicle on Ilam Road, causing the driver to stop, and tried to get in the back door but could not get in.
Prasad chased her and caught her 80m from where she had first been attacked. She fell to the ground, and Prasad stabbed her several times in the abdominal area in a frenzied attack. She received multiple defence wounds to her arms and hands as she fought for her life.
Sharan went over in spite of his injuries and tried to intervene but Prasad threatened him to make him stand back.
The driver of the car Naicker had tried to get into also tried to help but Prasad waved the knife at her, too, keeping her away.
When other bystanders tried to intervene, Prasad yelled: “It’s okay. She’s my wife. It’s okay. I’m going to die with her. We are going to die together.”
When he stopped the assault, he said, “I’ve nothing left”, and “I will kill myself.” He then lifted his shirt, stabbed himself four times in the abdomen, and threw the knife away. He then lay down on his back next to Naicker and cradled her head.
Naicker died in the ambulance while being treated by St John paramedics.
Sharan was taken to hospital with five serious stab wounds which needed stitches, and grazes to his knees and knuckles.
Naicker received six substantial stab wounds. Two struck critical organs, causing internal bleeding which caused her death. She also had wounds to her arm, lower abdomen, the side of her mouth, and hand.
Prasad said he was so angry his “mind was not right”. He said it was “hard to say” if he wanted Naicker to die.
He acknowledged making “the biggest mistake of my life”.
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