Ill. man sentenced for stabbing wife while gathering his belongings amid separation

NAPERVILLE, Ill. (TCD) — A 63-year-old man will spend a decade behind bars after confronting his wife during their separation in 2019, stabbing her and himself.

Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow announced that Patrick O’Brien was sentenced Dec. 21 to 10 years in prison for the attempted first-degree murder and aggravated domestic battery of his wife. He was convicted of the charges in August.

On Dec. 21, 2019, officers with the Naperville Police Department responded to a report of a stabbing at 2204 Popple Court. Police learned O’Brien had separated from his wife at the time of the attack.

According to the Will County state’s attorney’s office, O’Brien went to the victim’s home to collect some of his belongings, and his wife was in the kitchen. O’Brien then held a large kitchen knife and reportedly said, “If we’re done, then we’re done.”

O’Brien chased the victim out of the house as she ran to her neighbor’s patio door and screamed for help. O’Brien reportedly yelled, “You’re faster than I thought.” O’Brien then “pushed her against the rear wall of the neighbors’ residence.”

O’Brien’s wife reportedly “held her hands up in an attempt to fend off the knife,” and O’Brien then pushed the knife into her chest area and arm “while yelling an expletive at her.”

According to the state’s attorney’s office, the neighbor went outside to help and threw O’Brien down to the ground while he was still holding his wife. O’Brien reportedly stabbed himself and then tossed the knife.

Officials obtained surveillance video from the neighbor’s home that captured the attack.

The Will County state’s attorney’s office said O’Brien will get a credit of 38 days for time served. He’ll serve 85% of the term followed by three years of mandatory supervised release.

“The brutal attack shown in graphic detail on the home surveillance system captures the gruesome savagery of the attack by a controlling man who decided that if the marriage was over then his wife should die,” Glasgow said in a statement, adding, “This case bears out the stark reality in domestic violence that the most dangerous time for a survivor is when they leave their partner.”

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