A man detained after allegedly stabbing his wife to death in front of their four-year-old son has tried to kill himself by stabbing a broom handle into his eye in his prison cell.

The Romanian native identified as Alexandru Ianosi, 35, allegedly stabbed his wife Lilia Patranjel, 40, in the living room of their home in the town of Spinea, in Veneto, Italy.

The 35-year-old welder and the Moldovan woman who worked as a caregiver had moved to Spinea with their children Patranjel in 2017.

But having struggled to endure her husband’s violent behaviour, Patranjel demanded separation after he allegedly beat her on three different occasions.

Outraged by her demands Ianosi took a kitchen knife and stabbed her in her chest and stomach on Thursday, 22nd September 2022.

The 40-year-old woman died on the spot while Ianosi called the police and confessed to the crime.

Their four-year-old son later told the police: “Mother fell.”

Ianosi was arrested and detained for voluntary manslaughter after having told the cops: “Come and get me, I killed my partner.”

But several weeks after the murder the 35-year-old man ended up in a coma after he pierced his eye with a broom handle on Thursday, 6th October.

He reportedly tried to hurt himself in his prison cell after being “devastated by feelings of guilt” over the crime.

When he woke up from the coma a few days later Ianosi said: “I did everything by myself to punish myself.”

He was hospitalised in the reanimation ward of the Dell’ Angelo Hospital in Venice where he is reportedly still recovering.