HAVE YOU NOT DIED YET? Husband's sick question to wife after smothering and stabbing her 17 times

A MAN tried to blame his wife for self harming when police arrived after stabbing her 17 times and despite earlier asking "have you not died yet?"

Zef Gjoni, 28, (above) attacked his wife at their home in Thornton Heath with two knives after realising she had defied his ban on contacting her mother in Romania by taking her phone to the bathroom at 4am.

Gjoni launched the frenzied attack during the first lockdown on 1 April 2020 and at one point put a duvet over her head and asked: “Have you not died yet?”

She pleaded for him to stop and call an ambulance, but when he did he told the operator she had stabbed herself in the heart two or three times after an argument.

She was able to tell police through a Romanian interpreter the injuries were caused by Gjoni and he was arrested at the scene.

She suffered a total of at least 17 discernible stab wounds, and a collapsed lung and spent two weeks recovering in hospital. At Croydon Crown Court on Friday Gjoni was sentenced to 19 years in prison and a further five years on extended licence after being found guilty of one count of attempted murder following. Thea Viney, CPS prosecutor, said: “This was a senseless and violent attack inside a marital home.

"Zef Gjoni armed himself with two kitchen knives before launching an unprovoked attack on his own wife just because she wanted to speak to her family. The victim who has since left the country, is lucky to be alive."

“During police interview Gjoni told officers that the Coronavirus lockdown had upset his wife because she was being separated from her family in Romania. He told them she had been cutting herself in the bathroom, but the jury was able to see through this blatant lie. “The prosecution case included medical evidence and statements from the victim who had to spend two weeks in hospital recovering from her stab wounds.

“The CPS is absolutely committed to securing justice for victims of domestic abuse and will always prosecute these cases where there is the evidence to do so.”