JANARTHANAM, J.

The accused aggrieved by the conviction and sentence of life imprisonment imposed by the trial Court, has come forward with this appeal.

2. The brief facts are : The accused and Kuppammal (since deceased) are husband and wife. They are residents of Pavalangudi village, ten k.m. away from Mangalampettai Police Station. The spouses were in good terms for about two years prior to the occurrence, which happened on 17-8-1983. The accused actually suspected the fidelity of his wife thereafter and this led to frequent quarrels between them. The accused even went to the extent of complaining about the fidelity of his wife, the deceased to P.W. 3, who in turn reprimanded the conduct of the deceased number of times, without any effect.

3. The deceased, on the morning of the occurrence, went to her fields for work. P.W. 4 is an adjoining landowner. He was also attending to certain agricultural operations in his field. The deceased was carrying on the weeding operations with an instrument 'Kalaikottu' weeding implement (M.O. 4). The agricultural operations in the field on P.W. 4 was over by about 1 p.m. P.W. 5 had the opportunity to see the accused and the deceased in