NYC mom vomits as ‘monster’ friend who stabbed her 22 times with young daughter in next room receives light sentence
A Bronx woman who was stabbed 22 times by her “monster” friend as her daughter was in the next room vomited as she learned her attacker would spend less than a decade in prison for the bloody attack.
Kaitlynn Berman, 23, faced Christopher Joseph in Bronx Supreme Court Wednesday as a judge sentenced Joseph to eight-and-a-half years in prison for the March 2025 knife attack inside her Wakefield apartment.
“This man, this monster, Christopher Joseph, should be doing 22 years to life — one year for each stabbing. No remorse, no anything,” Berman’s advocate, Bishop Boyde Singletary, said outside the courthouse, NBC 4 reported.
“We are not satisfied. She is not satisfied, so overwhelmed that she threw up.”
Joseph, 23, stabbed Berman without warning approximately 22 times in the face, neck, hands and abdomen, while her 3-year-old daughter was in the next room, according to the Bronx District Attorney’s Office.
Berman was pet-sitting a friend’s cat at her apartment when Joseph — her friend’s boyfriend — came to pick up the animal, she previously told News 12.
Joseph invited himself into the apartment and said his girlfriend permitted him to have sex with Berman. When Berman refused, Josep mood turned.
Joseph also slashed Berman’s throat, below her right eye and across her nose as he left her for dead during the rampage.
He stole her cell phone and $5,700 in cash before fleeing the apartment, according to police. The blood-soaked Joseph was apprehended at a nearby subway station shortly after the attack.
Berman spent 48 days at NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi, where she underwent three surgeries and multiple blood transfusions.
Berman’s supporters said the eight-and-a-half-year sentence was nowhere near enough for an attack that left her with permanent injuries and out of work.
“The woman has PTSD. She has nerve damage on both right hand and left hand, she has pain and trauma from the right side of her face. Her life is never the same,” Singletary added.
Earlier in court, Berman delivered an emotional 15-minute victim impact statement directly to Joseph.
“You failed to take my life, and you won’t take away my future,” she told him, according to PIX11.
Joseph showed little reaction as she recounted the attack, which left her critically injured.
He refused the opportunity to address the courtroom.
Joseph was released without bail in December 2025 after his lawyer successfully moved for his release, citing an unanswered email about outstanding evidence in the case, according to court paperwork obtained by CBS New York.
Prosecutors had sought a 10-year prison term, while Joseph’s defense attorneys pushed for a shorter sentence.
He ultimately pleaded guilty to second-degree attempted murder in September, accepting a deal that resulted in the eight-and-a-half-year sentence.
Bronx Supreme Court Justice Timothy Lewis also ordered Joseph to serve five years of post-release supervision and issued an order of protection barring him from contacting Berman.
Berman’s supporters said they plan to challenge the sentence and contact the Bronx District Attorney’s Office.
“We refuse to allow Kaitlyn’s suffering to be overlooked,” Singletary said on Instagram. “We refuse to allow her family to feel abandoned. We will continue demanding accountability and a serious review of this sentence.
“EIGHT YEARS IS NOT THE OUTCOME WE BELIEVE JUSTICE DEMANDS. WE WANT THIS SENTENCE CHALLENGED, REVIEWED, AND RECONSIDERED!”