'Brooklyn Ripper' found guilty in stabbing death of 6-year-old child, wounding of another
A 31-year-old Brooklyn-based man, was convicted this past Tuesday in a brutal elevator attack which left a six-year-old boy dead, and his 7-year-old best friend grievously injured.
Daniel St. Hubert was convicted on two charges, murder and attempted murder, for the attack which took place on April 10, 2014, which left Prince Joshua 'PJ' Avitto dead and his friend, Mikayla Capers, fighting for her life.
As reported by the New York Times, St. Hubert had a history of crimes and was living in a homeless shelter, and on that fateful hot day, followed the two children from a playground at the Boulevard Houses in East New York into an elevator in PJ's building.
According to Capers, who bravely chose to testify at the "bad man's" trial, they were heading upstairs to grab some icees to quench their thirst. As children are wont to do, they were talking boisterously in the elevator, much to St. Hubert's annoyance. The 31-year-old, annoyed, told them to shut up, and when they did not oblige, pulled out an 8-inch knife and began stabbing them.
The six-year-old PJ was stabbed 11 times and succumbed to his wounds. Capers are similarly stabbed 16 times and was left with a collapsed lung but managed to miraculously survive, though she was left desperately fighting for her life for over a week at the hospital.
St. Hubert then dropped the knife and fled the scene, even as horrified onlookers watched, speechless. The eyewitnesses at the stabbing helped authorities draw a sketch of the assailant and a four-day manhunt concluded in his arrest. DNA left behind on the knife had matched with his DNA on the state criminal database.
The 31-year-old reportedly has a history of mental illness and having previously served a prison sentence for assaulting his mother, he claimed that he stabbed the children because "Satan has powers and controls things." While authorities feared that his defense would mount an insanity plea, a psychiatric evaluation found he was fit to stand for trial in January of this year.
During the trial. his defense attorney, Howard Greenburg, attempted to discredit Capers' testimony by calling her 'delusional' and a 'pathological liar.' Since there was no surveillance footage of the crime and the primary evidence was his client's DNA on the knife, Greenburg tried to brush it off by calling it 'junk science.'
However, after two days of deliberations, the jury found St. Hubert guilty, with the New York Post quoting an elated Capers who said: "Good! Now the bad man can never hurt anybody else. I'm going to let PJ know he can rest in peace."
Aricka McClinton, PJ's mom, was equally ecstatic at the verdict, crying outside the court: "Your victory is here, baby, it’s here, Prince Joshua Avitto! My baby can rest in peace now," adding that she could not forgive the 31-year-old just yet: "One day in my heart I will find that forgiveness, but it won’t be today. Today is not the day. Today is Prince and Mikayla’s day."
St. Hubert, who threw a furious glance at the jury foreman when the verdict was read, is expected to be sentenced on May 15 and is expected to face a life behind bars. Greenburg claimed that 'emotions trumped reason' and said he would appeal the decision.