A man who broke into his ex-girlfriend’s Mount Vernon home as she slept with another man last year and then slashed her with a large kitchen knife was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
At sentencing Wednesday, Aug. 5, Westchester Judge Anne Bianchi called Ajany Waite’s attack on the woman “barbaric…vicious and …intentional” before imposing the prison term requested by the prosecution.
Earlier, Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Kontos read the woman’s victim impact statement in which she refused to forgive Waite after he’d shown “no pity, no remorse and no regret” for his actions. She said the attack has left her with recurring nightmares, unable to trust people and constantly fearing others were out to harm her.
“You abused me mentally, physically, emotionally and financially at every chance you got,” she wrote. “You took advantage of me in so many ways.”
At trial in June, the woman testified about a tumultuous 2-year relationship that included two trips to the emergency room for her when Waite became physically abusive. She kicked him out of her home after the second such incident in March 2025 but acknowledged she was intimate with him on occasion after that.
Early on June 6, 2025, they were both at a club in the Bronx, he with another woman and she with friends and another man she had started seeing. She and Waite texted back and forth but she insisted she didn’t want to be face to face with him.
When she left, she and the other man met up at her home. They were naked in her room when Waite busted his way through a locked door into the apartment. He went after the man and then chased her into another bedroom after grabbing the knife from the kitchen. As she tried to close the door on him, he slashed around the door, striking her in the head and shoulder. The head slash left a gash from her eye to her hairline that required 25 stitches to close.
Her son grabbed a hammer and went after Waite, who then fled but not before slashing two of the tires on the other man’s car.
The jury convicted Waite on all counts except for a strangulation charge stemming from her claim that during the assault he put his hand around her neck, squeezing so hard she almost passed out.
The 33-year-old father of eight faced between five and 25 years in prison on the top charges, first-degree assault and first-degree burglary.
Kontos said an 18-year prison term was warranted because of Waite’s “overwhelming rage” that night and the “manipulation, control and physical violence” he resorted to up until then.
“He still felt that was his woman and he would not take disrespect lightly,” she told the judge.
Defense lawyer Nicole Zagreda asked for the minimum sentence, saying Waite was remorseful and citing his otherwise clean record, a traumatic childhood in Jamaica that included being shot and seeing his two brothers murdered and a diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder. She cited the prosecution’s pre-trial offer of 8-years in prison and said Waite should not face a much harsher sentence for exercising his right to a trial.
“He’s not a monster who deserves to spend decades in a box,” she said.
Waite declined to speak when given the chance.
Bianchi said she was hopeful that the victim could have a “full and robust recovery”. She cited Waite’s seeming lack of remorse and hoped he gets necessary alcohol, substance abuse and mental health counseling while incarcerated. She emphasized how the woman was attacked in her home where she should have been safe and recalled the body-cam footage that showed damage to the apartment that looked like it came from a horror movie.
“The defendant left a trail of emotional and physical wreckage in his wake during those early morning hours,” she said.
In her letter, the victim wrote how she couldn’t understand how Waite would treat her the way he did when she’d taken him in and shown him “respect, kindness and generosity.” She said that she was glad Waite was facing justice so that he “won’t get the opportunity to beat, stab or hurt another woman.”
“You humiliated me and wanted me dead,” she wrote. “I don’t care what happens to you anymore.”
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Prison term for home-invasion slashing of ex-girlfriend in Mount Vernon
Reporting by Jonathan Bandler, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jonathan Bandler, Rockland/Westchester Journal News | USA TODAY Network
