Jamaica man gets 20 years for killing wife, leaving baby to die

A Jamaica man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for the October 2004 choking death of his wife. The woman’s toddler daughter was found abandoned with her mother’s body in a parked SUV five days after the slaying.
“The lengthy prison sentence imposed by the court is more than warranted considering the violent and brutal nature of the crime,” said District Attorney Richard A. Brown. “This young mother was senselessly killed and her two-year-old daughter was left alone to die. If the baby had not been rescued by firefighters she may also have died.”
Leonardo Almonte, 40, of 139-11 115th Avenue in Jamaica, has been held without bail since his arrest in October 2004. He was sentenced last week by Queens Supreme Court Justice Robert J. Hanophy to a determinate term of 20 years in prison. Almonte had pleaded guilty last month to first-degree manslaughter and first-degree reckless endangerment.
In pleading guilty, Almonte admitted that he caused the death of his wife, Cesarina Colon, 32, on the evening of October 23, 2004, by throwing her to the floor inside the family’s residence at 139-11 115th Avenue, straddling her body and choking her.
Afterwards, he left her body and her two-year-old child, Rosie Batista, inside a vehicle that he parked at 95th Avenue and Cresskill Place, about a mile from their home.
According to the District Attorney, the baby girl was rescued on October 28, 2004, when a passerby saw the woman’s body and the child inside the vehicle and called 9-1-1.
Firefighters assigned to Truck 303 responded to the scene, broke into the vehicle and rescued the baby girl, who was strapped in a car seat.