What do you do when you are in love with your friend's wife?

A man said to be in love with his friend's wife tried to strip the woman and attacked her with a blunt object when she resisted, Harian Metro reported.

Victim P. Anjali, 27, received 38 stitches to the head and broke a finger in the 4.30am incident on Monday.

The man had broken into her house in Alor Gajah while her husband, P. Thenagaran, 31, was away at work. The couple's five children, aged between three and nine, were also in the house.

Anjali said she managed to SMS her husband about the attack before she passed out.

The suspect has been arrested.