Wife of alleged knife attacker Mehmet Balikci from Newbury tells jury: ‘He was insane’

A WIFE told jurors how her raging husband held a knifeto her neck after accusing her of infidelity.

During dramatic testimony, she said: “He was insane.”

In the dock at Reading Crown Court is 57-year-old Mehmet Balikci, who denies assaulting Rachel Parry-Balikci in January and making death threats with a knife in Newbury in February.

The court has heard how Mr Balikci, who was living at Abbotts Road, Newbury, became obsessed with the notion that his wife of 23 years was having an affair with a teenager.

Mrs Parry-Balikci, giving evidence for the prosecution, described how one confrontation quickly escalated into terrifying violence.

She said: “He said: ‘I want you to tell me the truth about what’s happening [with the teenager] – maybe it wasn’t your fault; maybe you were forced.’

“And I just thought: ‘You’ve been going on about this for so many weeks.’

“I said that nothing happened – and then he started to get angry.

“Very angry.”

Mrs Parry-Balikci went on: “He came up very close to me saying: ‘Tell me the truth – admit it.’

“He kept saying this and I kept denying it… he was insane.

“He said: ‘I’m going to kill you – I’m going to kill you’ – shouting in my face.

“I thought he was going to kill me… he took a knife with a foot-long blade from the knife drawer.”

Mrs Parry-Balikci said her husband held it to her neck, pulling her head back to expose her throat, warning: “If you don’t tell me the truth I’ll kill you.”

She added: “Then he got another knife and held it against my stomach.

“I grabbed the blade.”

Mrs Parry-Balikci said she was cut during the struggle and sustained an egg-sized lump on her head from the beating he gave her.

Police later arrested him and he gave a statement in which he admitted confronting his wife about her supposed affair but denied assaulting her or making death threats while holding a knife to her throat.

The trial continues.