A 22-year-old deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison for murdering a 14-year-old girl who refused to abort his baby, grieving family members and a prosecutor told a New York Supreme Court justice today.
In the end, Supreme Court Justice Neil Firetog was convinced to give Christian Ferdinand a prison sentence of 29 years-to-life for murdering his victim, setting her body on fire, and throwing the remains into the ocean to cover up his crime.
Ferdinand, who was convicted of the horrific January 2013 slaying late last year, maintained his innocence in the courtroom to the end.
“I would never kill someone over an abortion,” Ferdinand told the judge. “There's no reason to take someone’s life just because they said they was pregnant.”
But police produced Ferdinand's remorseless confession during the trial.
The crime of passion began when Ferdinand began hooking up with Shaniesha Forbes, a 14-year-old freshman at The Academy for Young Writers. The teen met Ferdinand, then 20, over Facebook, and he initiated a sexual relationship.
Forbes texted Ferdinand one night to tell him that she was pregnant with his baby, and she would not have an abortion due to her mother's religious beliefs.
“My n—a, are you serious? Kill that s–t,” he replied.
When she met the Jamaican-born Ferdinand at his cousin's house, he again pressured her to abort his baby. When she refused, Ferdinand smothered her with a leather pillow, set her body on fire, and left her charred remains in a suitcase at his cousin's place.
He eventually threw the remains into Gerritsen Beach, where they later washed up.
Forbes was reported missing on January 4. The verdict came two years and one day after police found her remains on the beach.
They also learned she was not in fact pregnant, as she had told Ferdinand.
The young man, they said, showed no compunction for his actions, defiantly defending the murder of his girlfriend – and especially his unborn child.
“It didn’t deserve to live,” Ferdinand told them during interrogation.
He later asked if he might be sentenced to community service for the macabre killing.
Shaniesha's family joined prosecutors in calling for the maximum sentence. “I hope he won’t see the light of day again. I will never see my baby again,” Forbes' mother, Sandra Price, said when Ferdinand was convicted.
Today in court Kerri-Ann Thomas, Forbes' cousin, excoriated Ferdinand for his lack of remorse and the molestation of her cousin in a statement she read in court on the family's behalf.
“He talked about his eyes and how he had a hard time keeping girls off him. I hope that works well for him in prison,” Thomas said.
