As dozens of anguished relatives of his alleged victim glared from the gallery, a Bronx man with 11 prior arrests for domestic abuse was arraigned today on charges he murdered his girlfriend with a hammer and knife.
Maurice Barnar, 41, pleaded not guilty to second degree murder in a Bronx Supreme Court room filled about 40 relatives and friends of the victim, DeAnna Bazemore, 46.
Bazemore was murdered on Aug. 4 after trying to kick Barnar out of the Fulton Ave. apartment they shared in the Claremont section.
“He refused to let her go. It was a ‘Fatal Attraction’ kind of thing,” said Beverly Bond, 69, a friend of Bazemore’s. “It was one of those things where ‘if I can’t have you, no one can.’”
Barnar allegedly hit her in the back of the head with a hammer and stabbed her eight times, five times in the chest — then locked the door as she tried to crawl to safety.
The case prompted Bronx Assemblyman Eric Stevenson to call for a “DeAnna Bazemore Law” that would fight domestic abuse.
“We’re trying to pass a law in her name to keep this from happening to any other family,” said Comella Bazemore, 44, one of the victims six sisters. “We’re in so much pain. We’re devastated.”
The victim, who had two grown daughters, a grown son and a 5-year-old grandson, worked at Lincoln Hospital and had just received a promotion.