A man in Russia's St. Petersburg city has been placed in a psychiatric ward after he attempted to exorcise the devil from his wife by stabbing her with knives and a screwdriver, prosecutors said.

The failed exorcism was triggered by a family argument, but was apparently anticipated because the suspect, Yury Simakov, prepared the knives beforehand, they said.

After getting into an argument with his wife in their apartment in St. Petersburg, Simakov stuck three knives into her vital organs.

He then removed all her jewellery and completed the ritual by sticking a screwdriver into the woman's head.

The man expected the wounds would heal by themselves, but they killed the woman instead, the prosecutors said.

He then left the apartment and went running around the neighborhood naked, but was apprehended by police and later placed in an asylum.