A father who ordered his kids to ‘buckle up’ before he mowed down their mom in his car shocked the courtroom at his sentencing Friday when he forgave his wife – for not honoring him enough.
Stephen Giraldo, 36, was sentenced to 25 years behind bars for the attempted murder of his estranged wife Sophia Giraldo, 41, who he addressed in court despite her not being present after suffering ‘severe neurological damage’ in his December 27 attack.
‘Sophia, I forgive you for not respecting me as your pre-designational husband, I forgive you for not honoring me as a good and loving father,’ he told a stunned Queens court.
His victim’s family reacted with outrage at the rant, with Sophia’s father Pastor John Brooks telling the New York Post her loved ones were ‘appalled’ by the remarks.
Stephen Giraldo, 36, was sentenced on Friday to 25 years behind bars for the attempted murder of his estranged wife Sophia Giraldo, 41
He shocked the courtroom as he addressed his victim in his remarks, saying: ”Sophia, I forgive you for not respecting me as your pre-designational husband, I forgive you for not honoring me as a good and loving father’
Sophia Giraldo’s family said they were ‘appalled’ at her estranged husband’s statement in court, but said it was ‘characteristic of who he has been’
Giraldo was branded ‘manipulative, deceitful, self-absorbed,’ by Brooks, with his savage attack shocking the nation two days after Christmas last year.
The former MTA bus driver, who pleaded guilty in September, intentionally mowed down Sophia with their children inside his Ford Explorer.
After the cold-blooded assault, Giraldo then leaned over one of his kids and climbed out of the car to repeatedly stab at his estranged wife with a knife, prosecutors said.
Sophia ran a podcast called ‘Unfiltered and Free’ – describing herself as a ‘survivor of Betrayal-Trauma & Abuse’ – and spoke about her ‘toxic’ marriage before the tragedy, a facet some have speculated was a motive in the horrific attack.
Giraldo was barred from contacting Sophia and their children ever again as he was sentenced, but took his chance to address her before the prison stretch was handed down.
After heartbreaking impact statements were read by Sophia’s family, he at first appeared to pay a touching tribute to her as he said: ‘To Sophia, I never would have thought that this would be our new normal.
Sophia ran a podcast called ‘Unfiltered and Free’ – describing herself as a ‘survivor of Betrayal-Trauma & Abuse’ – and spoke about her ‘toxic’ marriage
‘Please forgive me for this unspeakable, unfathomable, unimaginable hurt I inflicted upon you.
‘The last thing I wanted to do was hurt you in any way, shape or form. I will always love you, you will always have a special place in my heart, and I pray for your recovery.’
But Giraldo then quickly changed his tune as he told the court he ‘forgave’ the mother-of-three.
In a bizarre exchange, he also began providing some ‘helpful suggestions’ for topics his children’s new guardian should talk to them about over dinner, which the judge quickly cut off.
‘We’re not going to do dinner table topics. We’re not doing that,’ said Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Yavinsky.
Giraldo pleaded for forgiveness for himself before trying to ‘recommend two books’, which again was shot down by Yavinsky who told him: ‘We don’t need book recommendations.’
The 36-year-old’s insistence on bringing recommendations to the hearing was slammed by Sophia’s father, who said after: ‘(To) tell his wife, ‘I forgive you,’ and then have a whole list of… that’s characteristic of who he has been.’
Giraldo’s remarks he forgave Sophia ‘ not honoring me as a good and loving father,’ her loved ones condemned his remarks and said he is ‘manipulative, deceitful, self-absorbed’
Giraldo slammed the car into Sophia before barreling it into her home. He then ‘climbed over his son’ to continue the frenzied attack, stabbing her three times with a knife
Footage of the horrific incident shows Giraldo, a former MTA bus driver, waiting outside the building where his wife lived, with his headlights on before the horror December 27 attack
Footage of the horrific attack that landed Giraldo behind bars was caught on surveillance cameras, beginning with the bus driver waiting outside her home in Flushing, Queens, with his headlights on.
At around 5:15am, Sophia walked out of her home and towards the SUV he was waiting in.
With his children in the backseat, he told them to ‘keep your seatbelt on’ before accelerating into his wife.
He careened into her and then into the side of the property before crawling out of the passenger side window and stabbing her three times with a knife.
According to prosecutors, Giraldo ‘crawled over his son’ so he could continue the savage crime.
Although she survived the vicious attack, Sophia suffered severe neurological damage, broken bones in her leg, and a stab wound that punctured her liver.
The children were not harmed in the crash, and Brooks said at Friday’s hearing they were doing ‘much better.’
In a statement after the sentencing, District Attorney Katz dubbed the crime ‘one of the most brutal cases we have prosecuted.’
‘To tell your children to ‘buckle up,’ purposefully hit their mother, and then climb over your son to continue your attack with a knife is unconscionable.
‘In holding the defendant accountable and securing a lengthy prison sentence, we hope we have achieved some measure of justice on behalf of the victim and her loved ones.’
The couple shared three children together, but Sophia had filed for divorce in August 2022 and repeatedly discussed their ‘toxic’ marriage on her podcast
Sophia also said that the situation was ‘really out of control’ before adding ‘something has got to shift’
Some linked the attack to Sophia’s podcast, as she had railed against her estranged husband just days before and branded their marriage ‘toxic.’
She openly discussed the breakdown of their marriage and had filed for divorce in August, months before the incident, and also ran a life-coaching business for women.
His wife said that she knew first-hand about ‘navigating a life turned upside down by a toxic relationship’ during an episode on December 12.
She also discussed why she decided to end her marriage, saying: ‘I was trying to figure out whether or not I was going to leave my marriage. I spent a long time in the thick of a lot of emotional unrest, a lot of toxicity, a lot of abuse.
‘It was almost as if my brain was saying, “You got this, you got this, you got this.” And I did have it.’
She dubbed their relationship ‘really out of control’ and declared that ‘something has got to shift’, speaking just days before Giraldo struck.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk