Man Who Stabbed Wife, 6-Month-Old Son to Death, Receives Life in Prison

A police car in a file photo. (Pixabay)

A man who fatally stabbed his wife and 6-month-old son in their apartment in Southern California nearly four years ago has been sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole.

Kwame Carpenter, 27, was convicted of two felony counts of murder with special circumstances in February and was subsequently sentenced on April 26.

Carpenter, a former Marine, stabbed his wife, Moureen Gathua-Carpenter, 24, and son, Kyan, with a butcher knife in June 2015 after his wife discovered he had been texting another woman and told him to leave.

Moureen died at the scene, while his son died at the hospital. They were both found with multiple stab wounds.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard M. King described the case as “horrific” during the sentencing hearing, reported The OCR.

“The image that is in everyone’s mind is the child crawling with a knife in his back,” he added.

When detailing what happened on the day of the murder, prosecutors told jurors that Carpenter became violent after Moureen tried to lock him out after discovering his infidelity, but failed to do so when he broke the door down, reported the news website.

Moureen then tried to flee the apartment but was pulled back inside. While holding her baby close, she begged Carpenter not to hurt her, prosecutors said.

While holding a butcher knife, Carpenter threw his wife on the floor and stomped on her head, knocking her out. He then stabbed her “over and over again,” the prosecutor told the jurors. In the violent act, his son was injured.

Prosecutors said Carpenter then fled the scene and was found sleeping in a car in a hospital parking lot. Carpenter was arrested after leading police on a car chase that ended with him jumping into a lake in Santa Ana.

Intimate Partner Violence

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), intimate partner violence affects millions of people in the United States each year. Intimate partner violence (IPV) is defined as violence or aggression that occurs in a close relationship, usually perpetrated by current and former spouses and dating partners.

“IPV can vary in frequency and severity and occurs on a continuum, ranging from one episode that might or might not have lasting impact, to chronic and severe episodes over a period of years,” the agency said.

The behavior can fall into four categories, which are physical violence, sexual violence, stalking, and psychological aggression.

According to data from CDC’s National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, nearly 1 in 4 adult women and approximately 1 in 7 adult men reported having experienced severe physical violence from an intimate partner in their lifetime.

The agency said it considers IPV “a significant public health issue that has considerable societal costs.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.