NEW YORK—A man charged with attempting to murder his wife with a meat cleaver outside her Chinatown workplace has been found mentally unfit and will spend the next few years of his life in a mental hospital.
Ming Guang Huang, 28, entered his wife’s workplace on Canal Street Feb. 24, 2013, and pulled her out of the building. When she cried that she would call the police, Huang took a knife out of his pocket and started to attack her with it.
The defendant slashed at his wife Jin Yia You, repeatedly hitting her head and body with the large knife, causing her to “sustain multiple deep lacerations to the head, two of which went into the skull, hitting the brain, and requiring removing half of the victim’s skull in order to stabilize the injury,” according to court documents. At least 17 gashes were left in the wife’s body.
A Bellevue Hospital examination carried out Oct. 10, diagnosed Huang with psychosis. His lawyer, Robert Parker said that prior to the attempted murder Huang had not been violent toward his wife, and the incident was the result of a psychotic episode.
“I haven’t been able to have normal conversation with the guy,” Parker said.
Parker said Huang, who has been in custody since the attack, was supposed to appear in court Wednesday, but because Huang got in a fight at Rikers Island he couldn’t attend. Huang is next scheduled to appear on Nov. 14.
His lawyer did not know when the fight was, or if Huang or anyone else was injured. Parker said Huang’s family was told about the fight shortly before his scheduled court appearance Wednesday, so there were no more details.
Following the attack, Huang told police that the marriage was only for citizenship: “My wife has a lot of boyfriends and got pregnant and had an abortion. That made me mad, I just wanted to be with her, but she wouldn’t take me back.”
Financial Strain
Huang told police that he was under a lot of financial strain.
“This is all my sister-in-law’s fault. She is the one who made my wife work at the parlor. I give my wife a lot of money,” Huang told one police officer. “Her sister always wants money.”
Though Huang said he worked as a sushi chef. His lawyer said Huang was unemployed at the time of the attack.
“You know I work. I work really hard and make $50,000 a month. I give all the money to my wife,” Huang told a police officer.
Huang also told police he was worried he would be deported. “I’m finished. I’m done. I can’t go back to China. I don’t have any face, so I can’t go back.”
“I didn’t know it would become like this. I didn’t want to do it like this. I know I’m done. I know I’m finished. I brought the new knife just to show it to her to scare her. If she was listening to me, I wouldn’t have used it,” he told police. “Can you shoot me? I want to kill myself.”
Parker also said Huang’s now estranged wife was recovering well, but had some disfiguring scars around her chest.
Huang is a legal U.S. resident, originally from Fuzhou, in Mainland China. He has been charged with attempted murder in the second degree, assault in the first degree, and kidnapping in the second degree.
