'Call 911: my father is killing my mother'
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
STAR-LEDGER STAFF and ANDREA ALEXANDER
A Pompton Lakes woman trying to break free of an unhappy marriage was stabbed to death Sunday night by her estranged husband, who then slashed his own throat as police confronted him, according to authorities.

As the tragedy unfolded, the couple's 9-year-old daughter had run downstairs to neighbors with *lo** on her clothes and crying hysterically: "Call 911"¦ my father is killing my mother."

The husband, 51-year-old Jitendrab Patel, was still alive last night and was reported by police to be in critical but stable condition at St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in Paterson.

If he survives, police said, he faces charges of murder and assorted weapons offenses in the stabbing of his wife, Pratixabahen Patel, 35.

Police said neighbors called at 10:07 p.m. Sunday to report a domestic disturbance at the Patel condominium on Mountainside Drive. Sgt. Robert Sutton and patrolmen Peter Kamper and Steven Kouefati responded but found the door locked.

They were about to kick in the door when the victim's father, Pursottamdash Patel, who lived there but had fled with his 9-year-old granddaughter when the attack started, opened the door with a key.

"The officers went in and observed *lo** all over the dining room and the kitchen," police detective Lt. Steve Seifried said. "Then as they rounded the corner, they observed the husband leaning over in the kitchen and stabbing her in the upper chest."

The officers drew their weapons and ordered Patel to drop the knife but it was stuck in her chest, Seifried said.

Patel then grabbed another knife off the counter and "cut across the length of his neck and fell on top of his wife,'' Seifried said.

The Patels' daughter was staying with relatives yesterday, according to police. Information on Pursottamdash Patel was unavailable.

The alleged killing was a nightmarish end to a 13-year marriage that neighbors said had taken a violent turn in the last six months. Police said they had been called to the house several times for domestic disputes.

Toward the end of April, Pratixabahen Patel contacted Pompton Plains divorce attorney Larry Bruce Goodman. A few days later, Goodman alleged yesterday, Jitendrab Patel put sugar in the engine of his wife's car, which could have caused the car to slow down while being driven. That resulted in the husband having to move out of the house at his wife's demand.

Soon after the couple started divorce proceedings, Goodman said.

"He was not happy about the prospect of being divorced,'' he said. "He had inquired about whether there could be a reconciliation, but that was declined.''

Albert Gerais and his wife, Nida, who live downstairs from the Patels, said the Patels' marriage had been arranged in India. The Patels had worked together at P.N.Y. Technologies Inc., a computer hardware manufacturer in Parsippany. Pratixabahen Patel had been afraid of her husband but didn't believe her life was in danger, the neighbors said.

Nida Gerais said Pratixabahen Patel was "very nice, very friendly, completely the opposite of her husband.''

"He didn't talk much to anyone,'' she said.

One person Jitendrab Patel did talk to was Albert Gerais. They talked about handyman work around the house.

"Personal things he didn't discuss,'' Gerais said.

But he described Patel as "very jealous, controlling and paranoid.''

In addition to the Patels' 9-year-old daughter, whom police did not identified, the husband also has a son who is attending college in Pennsylvania, the neighbors said.

"She took the son in when he was 4 years old,'' Gerais said. "She always said, "I have two kids. I treat them the same.'"

Patel had visitation rights with his daughter after the couple separated, Goodman said. On Sunday night, according to the Geraises, Patel had arrived at the condominium to drop off his daughter after they spent the day together.

Gerais said the daughter told him her father said he needed to get some clothes from the bedroom. That was when violence began -- Nida Gerais said she heard "screaming and stomping'' and both she and husband reached for their phones to call police.