Model Admits To Killing Husband When He Brought Another Woman Home

A model in Russia is facing murder charges after admitting to killing her husband when he brought home another woman.

Lilia Sudakova has alleged she was acting in self-defence when she stabbed her husband, Sergey Popov, just over a year ago, however prosecutors have accused the 27-year-old of deliberately using a knife with the intent to kill him.

The incident took place at a flat in St. Petersburg, where Popov is said to have come home with a woman while ‘dead drunk’.

Sudakova said she ‘understood’ Popov was trying to indicate something to her by bringing home another woman, noting that ‘the night before [she] did not do what he wanted… he wanted sex’, so he ‘showed [her] that he can find someone else’.

Recalling the incident, Sudakova said she went into the kitchen to ask the woman if she wanted something to eat, but told Popov he could prepare his own food.

She said: ‘From that moment he became aggressive. He attacked me, and our friend [also in the flat in St Petersburg] pulled him away.’

The model said she was cutting a tomato with a kitchen knife when Popov ‘grabbed [her] again’, so she ‘tried to push him away’ and inadvertently stabbed him in the chest, claiming: ‘I saw blood, saw a knife in my hand. And I was scared that he would take this knife and just chop me to death.’

During initial interviews with investigators, Sudakova said she stabbed Popov out of ‘jealousy’ after he brought home the woman, according to reports citing law enforcement, and she was initially charged with causing grievous bodily harm.

The charges were later upgraded to murder, with prosecutors claiming the model had ‘deliberately and purposefully’ faced her husband and ‘stabbed him at least once in the chest’ after he had ‘put the palm of his right hand on her right shoulder in order to calm her and resolve the conflict’.

Sudakova continues to insist she was a victim of domestic abuse and has received backing from her mother, Irena Sudakova, who cited a witness as she claimed Popov had grabbed Sudakova’s hair and kicked her.

The mother commented: ‘At that moment, she waved him away and accidentally stuck a knife into him… Lilia is a victim, it was self-defence. This was such a sick love. It all happened by accident.’

Stylist Karolina Pavlovskaya, who is a friend of Sudakova’s, also claimed she had been a victim of abuse, saying: ‘She was a broken-down girl with a beautiful appearance, but emptiness inside.’

Sudakova’s trial is set to begin this month at Dzerzhinsky district court in St Petersburg. If convicted, she could face 15 years in prison.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, please know that you are not alone. You can talk in confidence 24 hours a day to the national domestic violence helpline Refuge on 0808 2000 247