A Brooklyn man, Rakien Figueroa, received a 38-year prison sentence for a series of violent attacks against his ex-girlfriend, including incidents where he slashed her face at her job and later stabbed her multiple times. Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Abena Darkeh imposed the sentence, finding Figueroa guilty of attempted second-degree murder and a series of assault charges after a trial that concluded on March 24, the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office reported.
The evidence presented in court highlighted a December 2022 assault where Figueroa, who had previously taken his ex-partner's cell phone, argued with her on a Brooklyn street and attacked her with a box cutter, leaving an eight-inch laceration on her face, this attack necessitated reconstructive surgery and caused significant nerve and gland damage. Following this incident, Figueroa removed his federally mandated ankle monitor and on December 4, 2022, he concealed himself in the victim's New Jersey apartment before attacking her again with a hammer, and impressing a boot against her neck which interfered with her breathing—and he expressed a threat upon her life.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, in a statement obtained by the Brooklyn DA's office, condemned Figueroa's "campaign of terror" and stated, "His brutal and repeated violence showed a complete disregard for her life and for the law." The culmination of these violent episodes occurred on January 10, 2023, when Figueroa broke into the victim's workplace, the restaurant CAVA, by smashing through the glass front door with a rock, where he then attacked her, inflicting life-threatening stab wounds to multiple parts of her body including her neck, face, arm, back, and kidney; injuries severe enough that they required a three-day surgical ICU stay, as per the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office.
After a weeklong manhunt following the stabbing, Figueroa was apprehended by NYPD detectives and U.S. Marshals who found him hiding in a relative's closet, this arrest was made on January 17, 2023. The case against Figueroa was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Lauren Fitton and Assistant District Attorney Danielle Ripka, of the District Attorney’s Domestic Violence Bureau, led by Bureau Chief Assistant District Attorney Kori Medow, whose work led to the jury's conviction and the subsequent sentencing that promises to remove the threat posed by Figueroa to his victim and society for a significant period of time.
