SOURCE: The Straits Times Online

A woman stabbed the man she believed had come between her and her girlfriend of three years.

On Thursday, graphic designer Teo Ming Min, 29, was placed on probation for two years. She could have been jailed up to seven years and fined up to $10,000 for knifing operations coordinator Kelly Ong Bi Hao, 27, on New Year's Day.

Calling it a crime of passion, Community Court Judge Ng Peng Hong on Thursday noted that "romantic and sexual relationships arouse the strongest of human emotions". He said this was an exceptional case that did not warrant the usual jail sentence for a knife attack.

"In my view, it was a consequence of her falling out from a long term relationship, seeing the victim coming out of bedroom and compounded by her psychiatric condition that resulted in the commission of the offence," said the judge.

Court papers state that at 10am on New Year's Day, Teo went to the Bedok flat of her girlfriend, Ms Lin Pei Ying, 27, to return a camcorder. Seeing Mr Ong there, she questioned Ms Lin about him.

Teo grew agitated and when he emerged from the toilet, she stabbed him twice in the front and once in the back.

She was arrested the same day when she went to Changi General Hospital to visit him. Mr Ong, a divorcee, was discharged two days later.

Teo told police that she bought the knife, which had a 14cm blade, that very morning for "protection".

She had pulled it out of her bag to threaten Mr Ong so he would listen to her but then lost all control of herself, she said.

Her lawyer, Mr Ravinderpal Singh, said his client cared deeply for Ms Lin and when the relationship was on the rocks, Teo grew depressed.

A psychiatric report from the Institute of Mental Health confirmed that Teo's anxiety and depression contributed to the commission of the offence.

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