An East Flatbush man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for kidnapping and repeatedly stabbing his ex-girlfriend in a brutal April 2023 attack that left her for dead on the side of a Long Island parkway, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced Tuesday.
The defendant, 39-year-old Darren Brathwaite, was sentenced by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Warin following his conviction on Sept. 30. A jury found Brathwaite guilty of second-degree kidnapping, first-degree attempted assault, second-degree robbery, second-degree assault and first-degree unlawful imprisonment.
“A woman was choked, robbed, and repeatedly stabbed by someone who once claimed to care about her, then dragged into brush and abandoned to die,” Gonzalez said in a statement. “She survived because she refused to give up, fought through unimaginable injuries, and found a way to get help. Thanks to her resilience and courage, this defendant has been held accountable and will spend 15 years in prison.”
According to trial evidence, the attack took place on April 29, 2023, at about 7 p.m., after the victim finished her shift at work in East Flatbush. Brathwaite was waiting for her and offered to drive her to pick up her child from a babysitter. She accepted and got into his car.
While driving, Brathwaite raised the subject of their past relationship and asked to reconcile. When the victim refused, prosecutors said, he became enraged, grabbed and punched her, took her phone, and pulled out a knife. He repeatedly stabbed and slashed her in the neck and thigh and choked her with both hands as he continued driving.
The victim attempted to escape the moving vehicle several times but was forcibly pulled back inside, where the attack continued. At one point, she went limp and pretended to be dead in an effort to stop the assault, prosecutors said.
Brathwaite then drove from Brooklyn to Long Island and stopped on the Wantagh State Parkway. Believing the victim was dead, he dragged her from the car and left her on the roadside. After briefly walking away, he returned, realized she was still alive, and stabbed her multiple more times before moving her deeper into nearby brush and fleeing the scene.
Despite suffering numerous stab wounds, the victim managed to reach the roadway and flag down a New York State Trooper. She was taken to Nassau University Medical Center, where she was treated for multiple injuries to her neck and thigh.
Brathwaite fled to Atlantic City, New Jersey, where he was located on May 2, 2023, and removed from the ocean by an Atlantic City Police Department officer. He was taken into custody following coordination among the NYPD’s 67th Precinct Detective Squad, the Brooklyn South Warrant Squad, and Atlantic County authorities, and was later transported back to Brooklyn.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Jessica Soares and Assistant District Attorney Lawrence Newman of the District Attorney’s Domestic Violence Bureau, under the supervision of Bureau Chief Kori Medow.
Gonzalez said his office remains committed to protecting victims and holding abusers accountable.
“My office will continue to stand with survivors and pursue serious consequences for anyone who commits this kind of domestic violence,” he said.
