A 25-year-old Indian man has been sentenced to 16 years in prison in London, UK, for trying to kill his ex-girlfriend. Sriram Ambarla, from the Indian city of Hyderabad, pleaded guilty to the charges and was given another 12-month prison sentence for unlawfully possessing a knife in a public place.
In March 2022, Mr Ambarla, then aged 23, brutally attacked his ex-girlfriend, a Malayali student, at a biryani restaurant in East Ham. He slit her throat before stabbing her nine times, leaving her seriously injured for almost a month, Daily Mail reported.
Court proceedings revealed that Mr Ambarla and the victim met while studying engineering in India in 2016.
Their relationship became violent, leading to their split around 2019, with Mr Ambarla resorting to physical violence and threats of self-harm to control the victim. He repeatedly showed up unexpectedly at her home and tried to blackmail her into marriage.
He regularly tried to order things from the restaurant where his ex-girlfriend worked to get her to his house.
After many rejections, Mr Ambarla finally went to the East London restaurant where she worked. The victim revealed that he threatened to kill her if she did not marry him and said she did not want to live by his rules. At this point he grabbed a knife and launched a frenzied attack, stabbing her repeatedly even as she fell to the ground. He told police he snapped when he heard her talking about wanting to celebrate the breakup.
Court reports revealed that just before his brutal attack on the woman, Mr Ambarla searched online for 'what happens when a foreigner kills someone in Britain', 'how easy it is to kill someone with a knife' and 'how to can kill a man'. immediately with a knife.”
He was described by the judge as “jealous, possessive and determined” and was given a lifelong restraining order from ever contacting the woman again.