A HOTEL entertainer who married a Scots woman he met while she was holidaying in the Caribbean has been jailed for 10 years for attempting to murder her.
Jose Garcia, 28, stabbed Fiona Garcia, 40, in the chest during a discussion about money being sent home to his family in the Dominican Republic.
The couple met in the Caribbean in August 2010 when she was on holiday with her mother and began a relationship.
In February 2011, after Mrs Garcia had received a £43,000 redundancy payout, they married abroad before he moved to her home in East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, and she paid off his family's debt.
But there was tension in the house over money and during a discussion about him sending more money than they agreed to his family, he walked into the living room and plunged a knife into her chest.
Garcia had denied attacking his wife last July 19.
He claimed he accidentally put the blade into her when he picked up the knife and turned around to face her in the kitchen.
However, the jury at the High Court in Glasgow rejected this explanation and convicted him of attempted murder.
Judge Michael O'Grady, QC, sentenced Garcia yesterday and told him: "You have been convicted of an appalling and equally disturbing crime. The attack upon your wife was unprovoked, brutal and utterly callous."
He added: "She should have been able to look to you as her friend and protector. Instead you came perilously close to becoming her killer."
He also ordered that Garcia be supervised in the community for two years after his release.
Mrs Garcia said the couple met in August 2010 and she made a return visit to the Dominican Republic in October, when the couple got engaged.
They married four months later and in the summer of 2011, after getting a visa, Garcia moved to the UK to be with her, leaving behind a son and other family.
When he could, he sent money back to his family in the Caribbean. Mrs Garcia said: "His family had debt, which I had cleared before he left."
She said she had been assaulted on other occasions by him throughout their marriage and that he was supposed to return to the Dominican Republic months before the attack. He was booked onto a flight, but failed to get on the plane.
The couple later reconciled and he moved back into Mrs Garcia's house.
On the day of the attack Mrs Garcia and her husband were planning to have a barbecue and she had gone to the shops for food.
When she returned she saw he had left money for her, but it was less than she expected because he was sending more home to his family than they had agreed.
Mrs Garcia said there was "tension" in the house because of the money and words were exchanged, but that there was no argument.
She told the jury she went to the living room to get her handbag and as she made her way back to the doorway that lead to the kitchen, Garcia came towards her and stabbed her in the chest with a large knife.
He ran from the house and Mrs Garcia was able to make a call to the emergency services.
Mrs Garcia underwent surgery and was kept in hospital for about two weeks. She was off work for two months.
Defence counsel Louise Arrol said Garcia had been employed in the entertainment team organising disco tours for holidaymakers who visited the resort.
She added: "He is in custody at the minute but if he is to be subject to divorce proceedings, which he anticipates, he will no longer have a legal right to remain in this country."
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