A 46-year-old Sardinian on Friday admitted murdering his estranged wife by stabbing her at least 10 times in the throat with a large knife after locking their three young children in a room in his apartment.
In what appeared a pre-meditated crime, Gianni Murru called Federica Madau, 32, asking her to come and collect their three daughters, who had spent the day at his apartment in the town of Iglesias.
Murru then attacked Madau in the entrance hall to his building with what he described to police as "a Rambo-type of knife" after an argument. Neighbours heard the women's screams and called emergency services but paramedics were unable to save Madau, who had collapsed on a staircase in a pool of blood.
Murru was arrested close to the crime scene and the couple's three daughters aged between 4 and 9 were temporarily put in the care of social services.
The unemployed Murru had been unable to accept his separation from Madau earlier this year, according to investigators.
