BROOKLYN, NY — A Brooklyn man has been sentenced to 38 years in prison for a series of violent attacks against his former girlfriend, including slashing her face with a box cutter and later stabbing her multiple times at her workplace, prosecutors announced.
The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office identified the defendant as 43-year-old Rakien Figueroa, also known as Rakeem Figueroa, of East New York. He was convicted in March of second-degree attempted murder, two counts of first-degree assault, second-degree burglary, and second-degree assault following a jury trial.
Prosecutors said Figueroa first attacked the victim on December 2, 2022, near Jay and Fulton Streets in Downtown Brooklyn, slashing her face and causing permanent nerve and gland damage. He later ambushed her inside her New Jersey apartment, threatening her life, and on January 10, 2023, smashed into her workplace, a CAVA restaurant in Downtown Brooklyn, and stabbed her repeatedly, causing life-threatening injuries.
Figueroa fled after the final attack but was arrested on January 17, 2023, by NYPD detectives and U.S. Marshals.