This is an article that I wrote and posted in my column on The Examiner website! This is crazy! When will men understand that no matter how beautiful the woman, if she's not happy with you, there are other women out there???
Victim - Sarah Coit
Place where her murder took place
Another woman’s life
has ended way too soon. Another family
mourns and repeatedly asks themselves “why?”
The sad part is, there are no answers.
That brings little comfort to the Coit family.
On Sunday, April 10,
2011, 23 year old Sarah Coit was brutally murdered by her boyfriend, then 33
year old Raul Barrera. Neighbors were
awakened at two a.m. by the screams of the young Hunter College graduate who had
been looking forward to beginning a career in Marketing and Advertising…a
career that would never come to fruition.
Allegedly, Ms. Coit had
wanted to end the relationship between her and the live-in boyfriend when the
violence erupted. Barrera had gone to
the kitchen to retrieve several knives from a butcher block utensil
holder. His assault took the victim by
complete surprise. He admits to cutting her mouth on both sides of her face so
that she resembled a grotesque version of “The Joker” from the movie version of
Batman. He stabbed her multiple times, nearly
decapitating her. The crime scene was
too grisly for even the most hardened detectives. And the reason for the assault was what many
women fear the most when ending a relationship.
“If I can’t have you then nobody will.”
Barrera
faces a maximum of 25 years to life. The hearing also creates a substantial
record of the murder, which can be used against Barrera if he appeals or when
he's up for parole.
Barrera's
lawyer has said his client suffers from "emotional disturbances" and
is expected to argue for a lowered sentence based on his mental health problems.
Last week
Barrera pleaded guilty to Coit’s murder. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice
Richard Carruthers presided over that plea as well as the two-day
pre-sentencing hearing that concluded on Monday.
Barrera
will find out the sentence for his crime on October 29, and is expected to
receive anything from 15 years to life in prison. The killer is hoping his
mental state and his guilty plea will earn him a lesser sentence.
But it
seems to me that his mental state at the time of the murder wasn’t the issue at
hand. It appears to be something just a
bit more simplistic yet even more terrifying.
Ms. Coit by all accounts was a stunningly beautiful young woman. Mr. Barrera couldn’t bear the thought of
anyone else having what he at one time had.
It was easier to kill her in a fit of rage and jealousy than to let her
go. But now that this horrific act has
been done, what happens to him? His life
is ruined. Will anyone feel pity for
him? Probably not. And why should they? Another young woman will never know the
meaning of true love. She will never
marry…never have children…never be a grandparent. Who knows what contributions Sarah Coit would
have made to society?
So when
will some men wake up and realize that there are other women out there? If she is not happy with you, then you can’t
possibly be happy either. If you have to
force someone to be with you then it isn’t love…its domination.
I’ve
written too many articles and listened to too many women that have been the
victims of domestic abuse. I look
forward to the day when I will not have to write articles like this
anymore. But for the men that perpetrate
these horrible crimes on the very people that they are supposed to love and cherish,
I ask you: When will the violence end?
J.L.
Whitehead
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