Woman jailed for killing husband

File photo / NZ Herald

A woman convicted of her husband's manslaughter and the attempted murder of her daughter-in-law has been imprisoned for nearly five-and-a-half years.

In his sentencing notes released today, Justice Stephen Kos said it was a "deeply tragic" case that had destroyed a family's hopes of happiness in a new country.

Guanzhi Yu and her husband Shubai Gao moved to New Zealand from China in 2012 and lived with their son and daughter-in-law and their children in Nelson.

Yu did not speak English and suffered from a major depressive order, Justice Kos said.

She believed her daughter-in-law was making her son's life miserable and on March 2, 2013, Yu posted a comment on a Chinese social media website that implied she would kill her and her granddaughter, and then commit suicide.

The following day Yu walked into her daughter-in-law's bedroom armed with one or two knives, Justice Kos said.

"Your husband, your daughter-in-law and your grandchildren were all in that room. You stabbed your daughter-in-law in the chest."

The injured woman fled the house and called 111.

When Yu's husband tried to disarm her, she bit him on the left forearm, then stabbed him once in the left side of his chest with the other knife, fatally injuring him by puncturing his lung, Justice Kos said.

"You ran past your dying husband, chasing after your daughter-in-law."

Police arrived and Yu continued to stab her daughter-in-law in front of them.

"It is fortunate she survived both attacks," Justice Kos said.

"After arrest your behaviour was bizarre to say the least. You were laughing, and then singing."

In a victim impact statement, Yu's son said the incident had "robbed him of his entire family", because his wife moved to Auckland with their daughter.

Justice Kos sentenced Yu to five years and five months imprisonment on both charges, to be served concurrently.

She was detained in a hospital as a special patient.