By LISA FLAUGH
Filling almost two rows of seats in the courtroom, the family of young stabbing victims Prince Joshua (P.J.) Avitto, 6 and Mikayla Capers, 7, waited patiently Friday morning for progress to be made and justice to be served for their children.
Daniel St. Hubert, 29, is accused of fatally stabbing and killing P.J., and brutally slashing Mikayla in an elevator in East New York in 2014 and faces up to life in prison if convicted.
“I’d like to make a decision today,” St. Hubert told Acting State Supreme Court Justice Neil Firetog at a hearing in Brooklyn.
“No we do not want that today,” St. Hubert’s attorney, Edward Friedman, interjected. The case was adjourned until March 24 after he asked for a postponement.
St. Hubert was originally found mentally unfit to go on trial in October 2015, but the ruling was overturned and he is now considered fit. He allegedly attacked the two children in an elevator in the Boulevard Houses in East New York in 2014.
“It’s mentally draining, it’s physically draining, and it’s very disappointing. Every time it’s the same thing. A new court date. Now, this time, it’s March,” said Regenia Trevathan, 65, Mikayla’s great-grandmother. “It’s been two years, eight months and 16 days counting down to the day. It’s an emotional rollercoaster. He has been found fit, twice, by the New York State Psychiatric Facilities. Then today we were hoping for a court date. … How long does it have to go on? We just want this chapter to move on.”
“They were best friends,” Erika McClinton, 45, said of the two children. McClinton is P.J.’s mother.
St. Hubert has been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic and has served five years in prison for the attempted murder of his mother. He has a tangled history of violent crimes and has been institutionalized in a mental health facility for his crimes.
Photo: NYPD sketch used in search for Daniel St. Hubert.
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