By Philip Newman
A Flushing mother was sentenced to seven years in prison last week for stabbing to death her son, who had pleaded for months that she end his suffering from cerebral palsy.
“The sentence imposed today punishes the defendant for her senseless act,” said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. “Moreover, she must now live with the knowledge that she alone is responsible for her own son’s demise. Hopefully, she will receive the counseling she obviously needs while in prison.”
Brown said Migdalia Veras, 59, of 34-20 137th St. in Flushing, was sentenced by Acting Supreme Court Justice Dorothy Chin-Brandt.
Veras, who had been held without bail since March 2011, pleaded guilty earlier to a charge of first-degree manslaughter.
On the afternoon of March 2, 2011, Brown said, Rene Veras, 39, who was confined to a wheelchair, approached his mother with a knife and begged her to stab him — a request he had made repeatedly for months.
After a heated argument about his medical condition, Migdalia Veras picked up the knife and stabbed her son twice in the chest. She then put a pillow over his face and held it there for at least two minutes, Brown said.
The district attorney said Migdalia Veras then attempted to kill herself by slashing her wrists and stabbing herself in the chest. She was treated for her wounds at New York Hospital Center of Queens.
The city Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled that Rene Veras died from stab wounds in the chest and asphyxia.
Reach contributing writer Philip Newman by e-mail at timesledgernews@cnglocal.com or phone at 718-260-4536.
