Washington: A 39-year-old lecturer stabbed his wife more than 70 times because he wrongly believed that he was not the father of their children. The incident took place in the suburb of Newton Mearns, near Glasgow in April this year.
Robert Kerr faced a murder allegation on Monday as he appeared at the High Court in Glasgow. But prosecutors instead accepted his guilty plea to the reduced charge of culpable homicide on the grounds of his diminished responsibility.
Prosecutor Jane Farquharson said Kerr had ‘suspicions’ that a friend was the father of his children when he attacked his wife.
The court heard Kerr stabbed Xin Xin Liu, 39, while his two sons slept upstairs and made himself a hot drink as Xin Xin lay dead on the floor.
He later phoned 999 and said: ‘I have just killed my wife. I murdered her in a stabbing frenzy,’ adding, ‘there is blood all over the place’.
Kerr later told officers: ‘I found out tonight they were not mine.’
However it had been concluded that Kerr was suffering from ‘an abnormality of the mind’ at the time of the attack.
Xin Xin’s relatives said that they were not aware of any problems in their relationship and the couple were described as ‘quiet and private’.
Few days before the murder Kerr had contacted his GP complaining of stress in respect of “work and personal issues”.
He added that he was suffering from anxiety, insomnia and spoke about “paranoid feelings”.
Jane Farquharson, prosecuting, said. “A paternity test recently carried out…has since confirmed that Robert Kerr is the biological father.”
Judge Lord Boyd imposed an interim compulsion order for Kerr to remain at Carstairs.The case was adjourned until November.