ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — An Orange resident who stabbed his ex-girlfriend to death in Montclair eight years ago has been sentenced to 55 years in state prison, prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Ahigjah Broomes, 29, fatally stabbed Akirah Townes, 20, also of Orange, on Bloomfield Avenue in Montclair on April 27, 2018.
Broomes stalked Townes – a student at Kean University – killing her four months after she ended their relationship, according to the Essex County Prosecutor's Office.
Townes was with a group of friends on Bloomfield Avenue, preparing to leave for a trip to Virginia Beach, when Broomes approached her armed with a knife. He stabbed her several times as she tried to escape – and her friends tried to intervene, prosecutors said.
Emergency responders transported Townes to St. Joseph's Medical Center. She was pronounced deceased at the hospital.
Heartbroken family members and friends have described Townes as a "great girl," a "hard-working college student" and a person "full of life."
Broomes fled the scene after the stabbing. He later surrendered himself at the police headquarters in Orange.
A jury returned a guilty verdict against Broomes in March after a six-day trial. He was convicted on charges of first-degree murder, third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and fourth-degree unlawful possession of a weapon.
Under New Jersey's No Early Release Act, Broomes must serve 85 percent of his sentence before becoming eligible for parole, prosecutors said.
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