Mum protects kids while being stabbed by lover

A MAN who frantically stabbed his lover as she lay over her three children to protect them has been jailed for 11 years.

Bricklayer Ergun Karabay, 38, broke into Arzu Tankir's Melbourne home by smashing a window with a hammer and stabbed her nine times, piercing her lung.

One of her three children, aged 10, received a minor leg wound as she lay across them to protect them, the Victorian Supreme Court heard.

During the sustained knife attack on August 26 last year, Karabay, who was drunk, shouted to Mrs Tankir: "I told you I would kill you.''

Mrs Tankir played dead to halt the attack and she was able to call an ambulance after Karabay left the Glenroy home.

After placing the call she collapsed and later spent three days in hospital.

Justice Elizabeth Curtain today jailed Karabay for 11 years, to serve a minimum of eight.

The court was told Karabay and Mrs Tankir shared a passionate yet turbulent relationship.

At the time of the attack Karabay was the subject of an intervention order, imposed after Karabay punched and kicked Mrs Tankir a year earlier, but the pair continued to see each other.

The court was told he threatened to kill her when she refused his wishes for a third person to partake in their sexual liaisons.

The attack came after Mrs Tankir extended the intervention order.