What happened in the family's apartment on the current January night is in principle clarified.
It had been a birthday for the couple's youngest children and during the party the father had been drinking heavily.
When such a wife comments on his intoxication and urges him to go to bed, something goes wrong.
Prevention injuries to the hands
He grabs a 31 centimeter long bread knife and starts chopping at his wife.
When she tries to run away, he grabs her dress and stabs her in the back.
Later, a medical examination shows that she sustained sixteen knife injuries to various parts of the body.
The injuries to the head go down to the skull and the repulsive injuries to the fingers can cause permanent damage.
She takes refuge in the bedroom and when the couple's two oldest children manage to overpower the father, she escapes to the stairwell and gets help from a neighbor.
The man escapes the scene by car but is arrested shortly afterwards by police.
The district court convicted of attempted murder
Ångermanland District Court found that the man was guilty of attempted murder.
The reason why the woman survived was more of a coincidence than something that the man deliberately contributed to reasoning the court.
They sentenced the man to ten years in prison and deportation from the kingdom.
The verdict was appealed to the Court of Appeal for Lower Norrland, which has now ruled.
They have listened to the same interrogation and taken part in the same evidence as the district court.
But the outcome will be completely different.
No purpose to kill
The Court of Appeal states in its judgment that the knife attack "was life-threatening despite the damage being limited".
But there has been no attempted murder, they say.
This is because it is not proven that the attack was aimed at killing.
In addition, it is pointed out that the violence does not appear to have been particularly severe.
They also say that it does not have to have been sixteen stab wounds to cause sixteen injuries.
No disputes before
Later in the verdict, however, it is stated that a stab wound to the upper body is associated with danger to life and the fact that the stab was aimed at the woman's upper body suggests that he wanted to kill her.
But the fact that the couple lived together for a long time without a dispute should, according to the Court of Appeal, speak against him wanting to take her life.
The crime is now instead classified as aggravated assault and the sentence is reduced from ten to four years in prison.
The man may also stay in the country.