A Brooklyn man was sentenced to 18 years to life in prison for fatally stabbing his grandfather with a machete and wounding two other family members, including his four-year-old niece, during a violent attack inside their Bedford-Stuyvesant home, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced Monday.
Dayquan Dubose, 26, was sentenced by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Michael Kitsis after pleading guilty to second-degree murder last month.
“This sentence holds the defendant accountable for a tragic, senseless, and truly horrific act of violence perpetrated against members of his own family,” Gonzalez said in a statement. “My condolences go out to the family of James Dubose Sr. for their tremendous loss. Thankfully, the other two victims recovered from their wounds.”
According to evidence, on the evening of Jan. 3, 2021, Dubose got into an argument with his niece inside a first-floor apartment at 300 Putnam Ave. He pulled out an 18-inch machete and cut the girl on the hip. Dubose then went to a second-floor apartment, where an uncle let him in. Once inside, he entered a bedroom where his 79-year-old grandfather, James Dubose Sr., and his 49-year-old brother-in-law were watching television.
Dubose stabbed his grandfather in the abdomen. When the brother-in-law tried to intervene, Dubose slashed his hand with the machete. Other family members managed to restrain Dubose until police arrived and arrested him.
James Dubose Sr. was taken to Interfaith Medical Center, where he died from his injuries. The brother-in-law was treated at Kings County Hospital, and the four-year-old was treated at Woodhull Hospital. Both were later released.
The attack came just days after another machete-related incident in Brooklyn. On Dec. 29, 2020, police fatally shot a machete-wielding man in Brownsville after he hacked at a woman walking her dog and then charged at responding officers, law enforcement sources said.
Dubose’s case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Farin Chasin-Fodeman of the District Attorney’s Domestic Violence Bureau, under the supervision of Bureau Chief Kori Medow.
