A merciless husband who beat his wife to death with a crowbar at a Manhattan bus stop in 2021; was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years to life behind bars—- as his sobbing daughter told him she hopes he rots in prison;
” I hope you rot in prison. I hate you so much,” sobbed Elizabeth Aponte, who at the time of the murder was a NYPD transit officer, told her father Julio Aponte, 65, during his sentencing hearing in Manhattan Supreme Court. Aponte had pleaded guilty this June to one count of second degree murder for the deplorable attack, in which Aponte repeatedly belaboured his wife Maria Kelly, 49, just before 7am in Washington Heights. After the attack, Aponte fled on a motorcycle leaving his wife unconscious and lying on the ground; police sources said at the time.
Aponte later called 911, confessed to killing his wife and was arrested minutes later inside a West Harlem parking garage at West 134th Street. Maria Kelly had been married to Aponte for 20 years, however, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, one month before the murder Maria left him and moved in with her mother.
Elizabeth, Aponte’s daughter, glared at her father with tears streaming down her face and told the court on Wednesday,that the killer had taken “Everything away from me,” — and robbed her of years that she could’ve spent with her beloved mother. “You deserve the worst,” Elizabeth solmenly told her father. ” She deserves to be here. I miss her so much”;
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement that Maria Kelly’s life was taken ” Too soon” and that he hoped the sentence brought her family some measure of closure. ” Julio Aponte, is facing significant accountability for this chilling and horrfic attack,” Bragg said. ” I hope that this sentence brings Ms. Kelly’s family, friends, and loved ones a sense of relief, comfort and justice”.
