Shahla Walker, 55, has revealed her husband of 25 years tried to kill her by smothering her with a pillow and stabbing her in the head after she asked for a divorce.
The mother-of-two from Gateshead, married Nezam Ghalate, 53, in 1995 – but after welcoming two daughters, their marriage began to fall apart.
In January 2022, she told Nezam she wanted a divorce, before waking up to find he had attacked her.
Luckily, her screams woke their 18-year-old daughter, who struck her father with a lamp and eventually resorted to stabbing him in the head in a desperate effort to save her mother.
Shahla survived the gruesome attack but was left with 14 stab wounds to her face and neck as well as a broken arm.
Nezam pleaded guilty to attempted murder and has been sentenced to 20 years at Newcastle-upon-Tyne Crown Court.
Shahla, who has been left unable to work, said: ‘That night will haunt me for the rest of my life.’I still can’t believe my husband of 25 years tried to murder me. But I’m determined to stay strong for my girls.’
Shahla and Nezam married in 1995 and initially shared a happy marriage together.
She said: ‘But as time went on, the life we’d built together wasn’t good enough for him and he became miserable.
‘Years later, he developed severe anxiety. It was so bad that he’d shake me in the night claiming someone was in the garden but there was never anyone there.
‘I was so worried about him.’In 2000 Shahla told Nezam to go to the GP and he was subsequently put on anxiety medication.
The couple, over the next few years, went on to have two daughters who are now aged 12 and 18.
She added: ‘The pressure of providing not only as a husband, but also a father got to Nezam.
‘Yet he could never find a job, and I was busy caring for our children.
‘His mental health got worse and whenever I left the house, he’d call and text me constantly begging me to come home.
‘He also stopped taking his tablets and going to his doctor’s appointments.’
Nezam accused Shahla of having affairs and began self-medicating with marijuana and alcohol.
Shahla said: ‘We argued non-stop. Whenever I threatened to leave him, he’d fall into a deep depression.
