Bulgarian woman recovering after wedding stabbing

BULGARIAN Pavlina Nikolova was making a steady recovery in hospital yesterday after being injured in a knife-attack at her daughter’s wedding celebrations.

Her estranged husband, 40-year-old Nikolov Ionof, also a Bulgarian national, is being held on suspicion of attempting to murder Pavlina, 37, and assaulting his daughter, 19-year-old Maria Nikolova, with a pair of scissors.

According to police, Ionof was caught with a butterfly knife in his hands, fighting with his injured wife in a room at his son-in-law’s house in Nicosia in the early hours of Sunday morning. The incident took place after his daughter’s wedding to Yiannis Yeorgiou on Saturday afternoon.

Ionof was arrested while Pavlina and Maria were rushed to Nicosia General hospital. Pavlina was kept in for treatment to three flesh wounds while Maria was released after receiving treatment for a seven-inch gash.

Ionof was brought up before Nicosia District Court later in the day.

The court heard that police had been called to Yeorgiou’s house by wedding party guests after an argument broke out between Ionof and his wife at around 2am.

Ionof was apparently demanding that Pavlina return to Bulgaria with him. When police arrived on the scene, they found the couple in a bedroom, Pavlina injured and Ionof holding a knife, the court heard.

Before the alleged attack on his wife, Ionof also had an argument with his newlywed daughter and attacked her with a pair of scissors.

The suspect was remanded for eight days.

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