MAN JAILED SEVEN YEARS FOR STABBING EX-WIFE 12 TIMES ON EDINBURGH STREET

Osarenkhoe Atutie was sentenced to nine years in total at the High Court in Glasgow on Wednesday after admitting attempted murder. The 26-year-old stabbed his ex-partner Victory Atutie 12 times on Duke Street in Edinburgh's Leith area on 11 November last year. The attack left Ms Atutie, 30, with a collapsed lung and permanent scarring. Three members of the public intervened to restrain Atutie and hold him until police arrived at the scene.

The court heard that Atutie had travelled from London, where he had been living, to Edinburgh with what Lord Cubie described as "a degree of foresight" before lying in wait outside the address where his estranged wife and their young daughter were staying. The couple had married in Nigeria before moving to the UK, initially living together in London until the relationship broke down and Ms Atutie relocated to Edinburgh with their child. On the morning of the attack, Ms Atutie was taking their daughter to a doctor's appointment when the child spotted her father and shouted "Daddy, daddy", which initially caused Ms Atutie to disbelieve her daughter as she believed him to still be in London.

Lord Cubie imposed an extended sentence comprising seven years and six months in custody followed by 18 months on licence. The judge stated that Ms Atutie "could easily have died" and that "it is plainly through a combination of luck and the intervention of three passers-by that she survived". He also noted that the attack took place in front of the couple's daughter and described this as an aggravating factor. The judge commended the three bystanders who intervened.