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Bronx woman Kaitlynn Berman vomits in court after attacker Christopher Joseph's sentence is read
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A Bronx mother who was stabbed 22 times in the face, neck, hands, and abdomen while her three-year-old daughter was in the next room stood in court on Wednesday and delivered a 15-minute statement to the man who nearly killed her.
Then the judge read out the sentence, and Kaitlynn Berman, 23, vomited.
Christopher Joseph, who stabbed Berman without warning in her own apartment in March 2025, was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison.
Prosecutors had asked for 10. The defence had asked for less. The judge landed in between.
Berman's advisors said she should be getting 22 years to life - one for each stab wound.
What happened in March 2025
Berman was pet-sitting a cat for a friend at her apartment in the Bronx.
Joseph, her friend's boyfriend, came to pick up the animal.
What happened next, according to the Bronx District Attorney's Office, was an unprovoked attack.
Joseph stabbed Berman approximately 22 times.
The wounds covered her face, her neck, her hands, and her abdomen. Her three-year-old daughter was in the room next door.
Joseph left the apartment. He was arrested at a nearby subway station, still covered in Berman's blood.
Berman was rushed to NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi. She spent 48 days in hospital.
She underwent three surgeries. She received multiple blood transfusions. Her intestines had to be stitched back together. She was left with permanent nerve damage.
She survived, but she was not expected to.
What Berman said in court
She stood in front of Joseph and read from a prepared statement for approximately 15 minutes.
Berman described the attack in graphic detail and described what it felt like to be stabbed 22 times by someone she considered a friend.
She described the recovery that is still ongoing.
"You failed to take my life, and you won't take away my future," she told Joseph directly.
Joseph showed no reaction. He did not speak. He did not look away. He did not move.
Berman's supporters filled the prosecution side of the courtroom gallery. Her advisor, Pastor Cheryl Singletary, sat beside her throughout.
The sentence
Eight and a half years.
That is what the judge gave Christopher Joseph for stabbing a 23-year-old woman 22 times in her own home while her toddler was in the next room.
Berman's reaction was physical - she vomited.
Pastor Singletary led her to a nearby seat.
Bishop Boyde Singletary, who has been advising Berman alongside his wife, spoke outside the courthouse afterwards.
"This man, this monster, Christopher Joseph, should be doing 22 years to life - one year for each stabbing. No remorse, no anything."
Why the sentence was so short
Prosecutors had requested a 10-year sentence.
The defence asked for a lesser term.
The judge sentenced Joseph to eight years and six months, which falls below even what the prosecution asked for.
With credit for time served and the possibility of parole, the actual time Joseph spends behind bars could be significantly less than the sentence on paper.
In New York, defendants convicted of violent felonies are typically eligible for conditional release after serving approximately six-sevenths of their sentence, which in this case would put Joseph back on the street in roughly seven years and three months.
Berman spent 48 days in the hospital.
She has permanent nerve damage, scars across her face, neck, and torso, and her daughter was feet away from the attack.
The man who did it will serve a sentence that works out to less than four months per stab wound.