IANS

Singapore, Jul 3: An Indian national was jailed for 16 years and ordered to be caned 16 times for the attempted murder of his ex-girlfriend's father and stabbing two maids, news reports said Thursday.

Navin Jatin Batla, a 23-year-old polytechnic student, was angry at the 71-year-old man for getting his daughter to break up with him.

His plea for a lenient sentence held little weight with Justice Kan Ting Chiu who said Batla had wrecked what appeared to be a promising career in marine engineering.

"By committing the offences ... you have brought tragedy onto yourself and your widowed mother, and destroyed everything," The Straits Times quoted the judge as saying Wednesday.

The court heard how Batla entered the home of his ex-girlfriend, Mumta Manik Shahani, June 30, 2006, using a key she had given him.

He stabbed her father, Manik Ram Shahani, then 71, and also the maids, Indonesian Mistri Lidiana, 37, and Indian national Shaw Munni, 38, the report said.

A third maid in the back of the house called police.

Batla initially faced three charges of attempted murder. His offences against the maids were reduced to causing grievous hurt after Batla agreed to plead guilty.

During the proceedings, Batla's mother sat with her hands in front of her as if in prayer.

In requesting a lenient sentence, Batla was quoted as saying, "If not for myself, then for my mother as she has sacrificed everything, including selling her house to pay my legal costs."