Ditmas Park Husband Arrested For Fatally Stabbing Wife In East 17th Street Apartment [Updated]

A Ditmas Park man stabbed his wife to death last night on East 17th Street in a domestic homicide, say cops.

Police found Hannah Donald, 47, with stab wounds in her chest, neck and arm just before 6pm on Monday, September 26, inside an apartment at 422 East 17th Street between Cortelyou and Dorchester Roads.

Donald was rushed to Kings County Hospital, where she died later in the evening, according to police reports.

The stabber, 57, had already fled the scene by the time cops arrived, but he was later arrested at the Cortelyou Road Q station, say police. He has not yet been charged but the investigation is active.

Cops say that after she was stabbed, Donald went outside and sat on the front steps of the building. This morning, DPC saw blood on the steps leading up the apartment building, covered by a large, translucent tarp.

Izafet Colok, a friend of Donald, told the New York Daily News that the victim had kicked her husband out of the apartment a few months ago, and he had been harassing her since.

“She’s a quiet lady, so nice. She always help everybody,” Colok told the Daily. “He’s drinking, he’s not nice, he comes to my laundry and complains. I know he’s like a bum.”

[Update 4pm: Clairmont Donald, 58, has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder and third-degree criminal weapon possession, say police reports.]

East 17th Street has been a hot spot for homicides.

• In May 2015, neighbor Raphael Kurton, 27, was fatally shot at Newkirk Avenue and East 17th Street;
• then in June, Adetunji Ajakaye was fatally shot sitting in a car on East 17th Street;
• and in November 2015, a man was fatally shot in broad daylight on East 17th Street; crimes that punctuated a particularly violent summer in Ditmas Park.

This year, while overall crime in the 70 Precinct is on a downward trend, domestic abuse has been on the rise, according to recent crime statistics. Felony assault, which involves the use of weapons, has increased by 40 percent; 21 cases up from 15 from 2015. Most of these assaults are attributed to domestic violence, said CO James Palumbo in June.

If you someone you know has been a victim of domestic abuse please reach out to the precinct today.