A WOMAN has told how she feared a knifeman would come back and kill her after she was stabbed.

Deval Patel, from Witham, was stabbed in the chest on July 12 at her home in Humber Road, Witham.

Gerard Bos, originally from Poland, stood trial for three counts of causing grevious bodily harm at Chelmsford Crown Court this week.

He was convicted by a jury yesterday.

Mrs Patel, her husband Nimit and their seven-year-old daughter lived at the shared house with Bos and his wife Gabriella at the time of the incident.

Mrs Bos had returned from a trip to Poland. A few hours after arriving home she asked Mrs Patel to call the police.

Mrs Patel told the court “Around 6.30pm she came downstairs and asked if I could call the police.

“When I asked Gabriella why, she told me Gerard had said he wanted to kill her.

“I asked what happened and she told me they were talking about divorce and Gerard thought Gabriella had another boyfriend in Poland.”

Mrs Patel became worried and called her husband, who was just arriving home. Upstairs in Mr and Mrs Bos’s bedroom Mr Patel noticed a knife in Bos’s pocket.

Mrs Patel said: “My husband tried to take the knife from Gerard, but he pushed him back.

“I told Gabriella to go downstairs and I told my husband in our native language that we should call the police.

Mrs Bos, the Patels and their daughter went downstairs.

Mr Patel told his wife to go into the garden and call the police. Bos followed shortly after.

Mr Patel told the court: “He asked me where my wife was and began looking for her.

“He saw her on the phone and asked if she was calling the police. I said no and told him she was on the phone to my friend.

“I told him that because I thought if he knew my wife called the police, he would maybe get angry or do something wrong because he already had the knife.”

While in the garden Mrs Patel heard shouting so she went to the kitchen where she saw a struggle between Bos and her husband. She said: “I tried to separate Nimit and Gabriella from Gerard.

“I felt something in the left side of my chest. It was a pain and I didn’t know what caused it.

“I didn’t know at the time that I was injured. I heard my daughter crying and went back to grab her and go around to the front of the house through the back gate.

“I was very scared, and I was thinking he might come again and kill me.”

Mr Patel was also injured in the struggle. He suffered a stab wound to the elbow and multiple cuts to his upper body.

It wasn’t until Mrs Patel and her daughter made it out of the house and to a neighbour that she realised, she was bleeding heavily.

Ambulance and police were called and Mrs Patel was taken to hospital by air ambulance and received eight stitches to her injuries. Mr Patel was also taken to hospital where he was treated for his injuries.

Bos will be sentenced later on today.