Denise Kenny
A ‘SORRY’ EXCUSE: Beautician Denise Kenny (inset) was slain at her Midtown salon by husband Michael, who was brought into court yesterday in shackles and hand mitts. (
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A man who hacked his wife to death in a Midtown beauty salon was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison yesterday — after he whined to the court about how he was the one done wrong.
Shackled and wearing mitts on his hands in Manhattan Supreme Court, Michael Kenny claimed his Trinidadian wife, Denise, was using him to remain in the country.
“As sorry as I am, I know for a fact in my heart I was being attacked, and the main purpose was a green card,” said Kenny, who wore the heavy mitts because officials deemed that, even handcuffed, he was a danger.
“I know Denise did love me . . . but toward the end, I was being deceived.”
Kenny was convicted this month of murder for stabbing Denise to death in 2011 at D’Galinas Unisex Salon, the West 35th Street parlor where she worked as a beautician.
His defense claimed she had texted him a nude picture meant for another man.
“I’ll probably spend the rest of my life in jail, but I don’t believe anyone’s life is worth a green card,” he said. “I’ll never forget Denise. As I said, I’m very sorry that she’s dead.”
Despite Kenny’s weak apology, Denise’s son spoke of forgiveness.
“I just want to say I don’t hate Michael right now. I don’t hate him because that’s not what my mom would want,” Darion Ramkissoon, 16, said in his victim statement. “She’d want me to forgive him for what he did.”
Her sister said Denise had seen Michael as “her dream guy.”
“She was my only sister,” Sherrifa Mohammed, 45, said before crying. “My sister was a phenomenal woman, extraordinary, fun-loving. Now she’s just a memory to us.”
Judge Thomas Farber said he was giving Kenny 25 years because “no sentence under the maximum could ever be appropriate.”
“When I hear statements, particularly from young men and women who are able to speak at a brutal killing like this with love for the victim rather than hate for the killer, that gives me hope,” he said.
Kenny could be eligible for parole in 23 years.
After stabbing Denise, he grabbed cash from the register and fled to Maryland, prosecutors had said.
Prosecutors won the conviction despite not being able to show key evidence after it was contaminated by Hurricane Sandy’s floodwaters.
“Denise Kenny did everything in her power to help Michael Kenny with his addictions and his mental-health issues,” Assistant District Attorney Linda Ford said.
“Where Michael Kenny has left a path of destruction, Denise Kenny has left a wave of warmth and kindness.”
Defense attorney Kevin Canfield said his client would appeal.