Teen killer of Barnard student Tessa Majors sentenced to 14 years to life for murder

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The killer of Tessa Majors has been sentenced to 14 years to life in prison. Rashaun Weaver, 16, pleaded guilty to stabbing the 18-year-old student during a bungled robbery two years ago.

He was just 14-years-old when he attacked Ms Majors in Manhattan’s Morningside Park, several blocks from Bernard College, in 2019.

“I want to apologize to Tessa’s family for my immature and thoughtless actions,” he told the court in a prepared statement, according to the NY Daily News, adding that she deserved a long life and that he was “embarrassed.”

“I would give anything to go back in time so that it never happened.”

In a victim impact statement read out at the court, her family said they have “have no idea what it is like to stumble up a long flight of stairs after being stabbed multiple times in the chest, her phone still in her hand,” the NY Post reported.

“They have no idea what it’s like to try and hail an Uber ride while sitting on a city bench after being stabbed. No idea what it is like to bleed to death on a New York City street in the presence of strangers next to a security booth,” the statement said.

The family added that Tessa is “dead forever and is not coming back”, according to NBC New York.

"The pain is immeasurable and does not go away," the statement said.

Zyairr Davis, who was 13 at the time of the attack, pled guilty in 2020 to first-degree robbery and received 18 months detention. Luciano Lewis, then 14, pled guilty in September to second-degree murder and first-degree robbery and was sentenced to nine years to life.

Weaver’s guilty plea to murder and robbery charges in December led to the longest conviction of the three in Manhattan Supreme Court on Wednesday.

The stabbing took place in Morningside Park in northwestern Manhattan on 11 December 2019 when Rashaun kicked Ms Majors in the back as she was walking past looking at her phone.

During the following struggle, Ms Majors bit Weaver and screamed for help. It was at this time that Lewis reportedly held Ms Majors in a headlock as Weaver stabbed her multiple times, including in the heart. The three boys ran off with her iPhone.