A VIOLENT husband stabbed his wife to death for daring to answer him back, a court has heard.

My Van Nguyen, aged 57, had already been convicted twice for attacking 54-year-old Thi Hoa Dang before he stabbed her in the back and chest in their Plumstead home, the Old Bailey heard on Monday.

The Vietnamese couple's children, who kept a diary of the domestic abuse Mrs Dang suffered throughout her 35-year marriage, found their mother dying with a kitchen knife still sticking out of her back.

Nguyen told police he had stabbed his wife because she had "humiliated him" by answering him back and being disrespectful, adding: "It is unacceptable for a wife to disrespect her husband for Oriental people".

Prosecutor Nicholas Hilliard told the court heavy drinker Nguyen was convicted for assaulting and injuring his wife in 1999 and 2005 but there were many more instances of violence recorded by the couple's 17-year-old daughter, Rachel.

He said: "Those convictions were not the end of it. According to Rachel, the defendant regularly shouted at his wife for spending too much time on the telephone and had sworn at and abused her verbally almost every day.

"At their previous address, the violence shown by the defendant to his wife had been much worse and abuse, both verbal and physical, had been just constant.

"She described one occasion in February of 2006 when the defendant had thrown a bottle at his wife, hitting her on the head and causing it to bleed.

"In June of last year, again when he was under the influence of alcohol, Rachel said he smacked his wife.

"As time went by his wife became more determined to stand up to her husband."

The court heard how Nguyen had been drinking heavily and was listening to loud music in the living room of the family's home in Willow Way, Plumstead, on October 19 last year when Mrs Dang asked him to turn it down.

Neighbours soon heard the familiar sound of shouting and furniture breaking, Mr Hilliard said.

He added: "At about half past midnight the daughter, Rachel, heard her parents arguing. Her mother had gone downstairs to complain about the volume of the music the defendant was playing.

"As the argument developed her father was shouting abuse at his wife. The argument appeared to refer to an incident on a recent holiday when his wife had worn a short-sleeved shirt.

"That excited feelings of jealousy in the defendant, who called her a slut.

"He was really jealous of his wife. There were occasions when, during arguments, the defendant would throw his wife out of the house and, when he sobered up, he couldn't recall where she had gone.

"He would suspect she was with another man."

Rachel called the police but by the time officers arrived Nguyen had stormed out.

He returned home half an hour later and his wife let him in, but the argument began again and the police had to rush back to the house.

They told him they would arrest him if he didn't leave, but Nguyen waited until the police officers had gone before creeping back to the house at about 4.30am.

His wife let him in to stop him ringing the bell.

At about 7am, Rachel and her 32-year-old brother heard their mother scream and saw Nguyen running out of the couple's bedroom.

Mr Hilliard said: "The children rushed into their mother's room. The son, who went in first, saw a knife sticking out of his mother's back."

Mrs Dang was rushed to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich, but died at 8.11am.

A post-mortem examination revealed she had suffered a 30cm stab wound to the chest which pierced her liver and a wound to the back, where the knife had been driven through her shoulder blade and ribs to sever a major artery.

Nguyen turned himself in to police later that morning but refused to answer questions.

Mr Hilliard said: "At first he made no comment in answer to most of the questions he was asked. He said the officers were asking too many questions and making his head ache.

"He said it was for them to investigate the cause of his wife's death rather than for him to comment."

Nguyen later admitted stabbing Mrs Dang, saying he had grabbed her round the neck and pulled her to him before stabbing her in the back and the chest.

He told police: "I felt I was really humiliated as a husband. It is unacceptable for a wife to disrespect her husband for Oriental people and I was also locked out of the house.

"I was just so angry. I was so upset, so I stabbed her once in the back and once in the front."

Nguyen said he returned home "to vent my anger, because I had been so angry all day. I couldn't take it any more. I was just so humiliated. I was so angry and upset".

Mr Hilliard said: "He explained his wife had started to verbally abuse him and was answering him back in a rude way.

"She dressed inappropriately. Such behaviour was unacceptable to a Vietnamese husband."

Nguyen admits manslaughter but denies murder on the grounds of provocation.

The trial continues.