01 September,2016 08:14 AM IST | | Agencies
Judge agrees that the man’s family would face ‘ostracism’ if he were to go to prison
Houston: A 46-year-old Indian-origin man in the US who stabbed his "overweight" wife twice in the abdomen has been spared a prison sentence because the judge agreed that his family would face "ostracism" as part of their Hindu culture.
Navinkumar Patel. Pic/Lawrence, Kansas Police Department
Navinkumar Patel, from Kansas City, stabbed his wife with a pocketknife as she ate a bowl of cereal, and subsequently told police he had done it because his wife was "overweight."
Patel was arrested in June 2015 after he stabbed his wife at Lawrence's Super 8 Motel, which he owns. He pleaded no contest to felony charges of attempted second-degree murder and criminal threat.
Famiy pleads
In court, more than a dozen family members, including his wife, appeared in court to support him, while others wrote letters to Judge Fairchild asking for a lenient sentence. The judge then sentenced Patel to probation but will not announce the terms until next month.
