Malaysia: British woman escapes death penalty after killing husband

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A British woman who admitted killing her abusive husband in Malaysia has avoided the death penalty.

Samantha Jones wept as her guilty plea to a charge of culpable homicide was accepted.

She fatally stabbed her husband John William Jones during a fight in 2018 on the island of Langwaki

Prosecutors had originally charged her with murder, which carries an automatic death sentence in Malaysia.

During a court hearing in the city of Alor Setar, Mrs Jones’ lawyer Sangeet Kuar Deo said his client had suffered from years of physical and emotional torment from her alcoholic husband.

Mr Kuar Deo said, Mr Jones kicked his wife, aged 52, as she was lying in bed on 18 October 2018.

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Mrs Jones fled to the kitchen followed by her husband and the two began fighting.

During the confrontation, Mrs Jones fatally stabbed him in the liver, inflicting a six-inch (15 cm) wound.

“I was scared and he was so angry,” she told the court.

“I miss him terribly, what I did that night was unintended.”

Mrs Jones, originally from Somerset, was jailed for three-and-a-half years and fined 10,000 Ringgit – roughly £1,800.

The couple had lived on the popular tourist island since 2005.