DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Courtesy of the New York Daily News
Forty-four years after stalking and stabbing Kitty Genovese, her killer still blames his wife-beating father for the vicious murder.
“My father was at the time stalking my mother and thinking about killing her,” Winston Moseley told the parole board last month when asked about the infamous 1964 slaying.
“But the problem was not just at that moment in time,” he said. “It existed for many years of sort of the emotional trauma that I was going through.”
Moseley, whose parole bid was rejected for a 13th time, has long displayed little remorse for the March 13, 1964, slaying – although he did offer an apology this time, a transcript of the hearing shows.
“I’m sincerely sorry for this. I know that was a terrible thing to do, and I’ve had a lot of time to think about it and whatnot.”
The stabbing ignited a national furor after Genovese’s neighbors ignored her dying pleas for help. The 24-year-old victim was walking home from her night shift at a Queens bar when she was randomly attacked by Moseley at about 3 a.m.
He initially was convicted and sentenced to death, although the term later was reduced to 20 years to life.
When he appeared before the parole board March 11, Moseley, 72, was also dismissive of a rape he committed after a 1968 escape.
“The crime you committed was pretty heinous, would you agree?” asked one of the three parole commissioners.
“Well,” Moseley replied, “I guess that depends on your view. … At that time, I didn’t see it that way. And no one was killed.” Asked what happened the night he killed Genovese, Moseley referred to the domestic violence of his childhood.
“The things that went on between [his parents], that went on from the time I was maybe 6 or 7 right up until the time of this crime,” said Moseley, who was 29 at the time of the murder.
Moseley said his arrest ended the violence between his parents: “It was the end of their war, I guess you can say.”
