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SINGAPORE - He had bought a knife to force a confession out of his teenage girlfriend about her infidelity, but alleged murderer Pathip Selvan Sugumaran argued on the stand on Friday that he never had the intention to stab or kill her.
For the first time since his murder trial began, Pathip's side of the story has emerged.
He had a knife with him the day he killed his girlfriend because he wanted to scare her into telling the truth about an unknown man, the 23-year-old had told a psychiatrist.
He claimed to have seen the man lying on top of her in her bedroom that morning.
But when Ms Jeevitha Panippan uttered that she was "going for the man's body" and he was better in bed than him, Pathip said he whipped out the knife hidden in his back pocket and thrust it into her abdomen.
Feeling "extremely hurt", he went on to swing the knife "wildly" at the 18-year-old until her lifeless body hit the ground.
The accused's version of events were revealed in Dr Joshua Kua's psychiatric report on him.
Dr Kua's testimony yesterday was that Pathip seemed to have "deep affection" for Ms Jeevitha - he was slightly tearful when they spoke about his girlfriend during their interviews - but the discovery of her alleged infidelity caused him stress.
The accused had told the psychiatrist that he first learnt about it two months before the killing. A friend told him Ms Jeevitha was seeing a guy named "Kesh".
When he confronted her with a knife to force the truth out of her, the scare tactic allegedly worked that time and she confessed she had been physically intimate with Kesh.
The court also heard previously from her friends that Pathip had threatened her with a knife on another occasion.
Thereafter, he became more possessive and controlling and would constantly ask Ms Jeevitha her whereabouts.
Pathip claimed he also pampered her more by giving in to her and buying her presents in the hope that she would remain faithful to him.
On July 7 last year, he paid his girlfriend a surprise visit at 9am because she was feeling unwell and he wanted to take her to go see a doctor.
Hearing music coming from her bedroom, Pathip climbed on a chair and peeped inside through a window. He was shocked by what he saw: A man was lying on top of his girlfriend and kissing her.
Dr Kua's report stated that Pathip had confronted Ms Jeevitha at her door then, but when cross-examined by defence counsel Subhas Anandan, the psychiatrist admitted that his clinical notes recorded during the interview contained no such account.
The defence's case is that Pathip only confronted Ms Jeevitha that night, which led to him being provoked into killing her.
A heartbroken Pathip downed two bottles of beer at a nearby coffeeshop that afternoon, then went home and cried to his mother about what he had seen.
Later that night, after he had a talk with Ms Jeevitha and her mother, the couple went to a power substation opposite Block 154 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4.
He started asking her about the man in her flat; she denied she was cheating on him.
He broke down and professed his love for her; shortly after, she allegedly made the "humiliating" remarks that caused him to launch into the fatal attack.
The court also heard that Pathip bent down and kissed his felled lover. He then took a gold chain that he had given her from her neck, kissed it and threw it aside before leaving.
Pathip will take the stand on Saturday. - TODAY
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