Woman gets 20-year sentence for stabbing husband to death

By William Cole
Advertiser Courts Writer

A 37-year-old mother of six was sentenced to a maximum 20 years in prison yesterday for stabbing her husband in the neck with a steak knife as he slept.

Sabrina Fiaai had been charged with second-degree murder for the Feb. 7, 2000, stabbing at the home of a relative in Makakilo but, as part of a plea agreement, pleaded guilty to man-slaughter.

City Deputy Prosecutor Rom Trader called the case a tragedy for everyone involved.

Abe Fiaai, 36, "pretty much abused (his wife) day in and day out," Trader said after yesterday's sentencing in Circuit Court. "He is dead, she is in jail, the kids are without a mother and father, so the devastation has been tremendous for everyone involved."

Members of Abe Fiaai's family, when asked by the prosecution for their views, requested that the case be dismissed, the prosecution said.

And although Sabrina Fiaai was in a "fragile state," Trader said, she made the wrong choice in killing her husband.

"She committed a crime — and just because this guy wasn't the nicest guy on the planet doesn't give her the right to do what she did," Trader said.

Deputy Public Defender Todd Eddin has said that his client was "extremely remorseful" and that she accepted the plea so her family would not have to endure a trial.

After one beating in the late 1980s at the hands of her husband, Sabrina Fiaai's injuries required 42 stitches, Eddins said.

But prosecutors ruled out self-defense in the fatal stabbing, saying there was no indication of discord immediately beforehand.