A Jamaica woman was sentenced to 23 years in prison for killing her aunt with a meat cleaver and for raping a teenage relative.
Elizabeth Sanchez, 32, of 174th Street, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and second-degree rape in June before Queens Supreme Court Justice Ira H. Margulis, who imposed 23 years in prison for the manslaughter conviction and 2 ⅓ to 7 years on the rape charge on Tuesday.
The sentences are to run concurrently and to be followed by five years’ post-release supervision.
According to the charges, Sanchez, who also went by the name Digna Sanchez-Ortiz, attacked her aunt Maria Palaguaich, 50, with a meat clever inside the house they shared. The victim was struck multiple times on the head, back and shoulder and she died from as a result of those injuries.
Between Dec. 30, 2016, and Jan. 2, 2017, Sanchez had sexual intercourse with a teenage boy relative younger than 15 years old. She did it again in March of 2017, according to the charges.
“This defendant brutally took the life of her close relative, someone who took her into her home when the woman did not have a place to stay,” Acting District Attorney John M. Ryan said. “This was a brutal attack that has traumatized an entire family. On top of that, the defendant also admitted to raping a teenage male relative several times. The sentence imposed today by the Court punishes the defendant for her criminal actions and hopefully brings closure to this family.”
