“An 11-year-old doesn’t raise his hand to stab anyone unless what he is seeing makes him think his mom is going to die.”
A Bronx prosecutor used the dramatic example in closings of the attempted murder trial of a home invader who attacked a mother of two — the woman only saved when her heroic young son stabbed the assailant.
Brian Febus is accused of breaking into Denise Soto’s home April 25, 2017, and punching her multiple times before
while her sons, ages 4 and 11, looked on in horror.
“[Febus] was trying to kill [Soto]…he decided to let go the moment she decided to play dead,” assistant district attorney Jessica Kalafut said during closing arguments Monday.
During the melee, Soto’s older son, Jeremy Rosario, sprang to his mother’s defense, grabbing a kitchen knife and stabbing Febus twice in the back.
On Friday, Jeremy, now 12, told jurors, “I didn’t want my mom to die.”
Immediately after the incident — which took place on Soto’s 32nd birthday —the family broke their lease and moved out of the apartment.
“The children never felt safe there again,” Kalafut said.
Febus’ lawyer argued that Soto — who had broken up with his brother Chris — was coming by to get Chris’ belongings.
“[Soto] knew who [Febus] was and she knew why he was there,” the man’s lawyer, Chris Britten, said during his closing arguments.
Britten said that Soto lied about the events to protect her son. “She saw her 11-year-old stab a man in the back twice. It makes sense she might not want to make that the focus of the police investigation.”
The jury began deliberations on Monday afternoon and are expected to resume Tuesday morning.
