NYC Woman Sentenced For Branding Ex-Lover

College Student Tasered, Then Scarred Man After He Had Sex With Her And Didn't Call Afterwards

(AP)  A college student who branded a former lover's body with a scalding piece of metal as payback for never calling her after they had sex was sentenced to five years in prison Friday.

Kristina Caban, 23, had no comment as state Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus sentenced her for what he called a crime that was "not remotely justifiable."

Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg told Obus that Caban was the "mastermind behind the plan" to sear the torso of Samir "Sammy" Sara, then 23, for having sex with her once in 2004 and never calling her again.

Caban enlisted new boyfriend Robert Testagrossa to help brand a four-inch-high "R" on Sara's abdomen in October 2006, the prosecutor said. She said Caban lured the former lover to a hotel room, where Testagrossa and another man grabbed him.

Blumberg said the men used a Taser to immobilize Sara in a room at the Chelsea Inn while Caban laughed at his distress and kicked him while he was down.

The branding "iron" was actually a length of metal wire fashioned into a "R" - heated, and applied to Sara's torso, said Tracy Golden of the Manhattan district attorney's office. She said prosecutors did not know what the "R" stood for.

Caban and Testagrossa, 27, pleaded guilty to assault in August 2007 in exchange for five-year sentences. Testagrossa was sentenced in February and Caban, a photography student, was allowed to graduate from the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan before going to prison.

Blumberg said the third assailant remains at large.

He said Sara will have a permanent, tragic memento of his encounter with Caban.

Caban's lawyer, James Friedman said, "She's a good kid, despite the picture painted of her, who exercised poor judgment and got herself into a bad situation. She is not the monster the prosecution made her out to be."

Caban's father, Rafael Caban, 55, is a retired Correction Department captain.

Testagrossa is the son of two prosecutors. His father Charles is the executive assistant district attorney in Queens who prosecuted the Sean Bell police shooting case. His mother is a lawyer in the Nassau County district attorney's office.

[dobbershome]

Should of called her back. Nothing worse than a scorn woman.

[blackyowe]

I would say she really deserved that sentance. What madness, they tased the poor guy and kicked him too besides branding him. This girl needs some serious mental health care. That is probably why he never called her for a second date eh?

[edgardebbins]

Well, actually, Caban IS a monster. I''m sure she''ll have fun in the Joint.

[avigil2]

Women (not all, but most) are crazy!

[lpgideon]

All these other explanations for the "R." Why not the most obvious? His first name starts with an"R."

[billatmsn]

I goggled Kristina Caban
http://www.gothamist.com/archives/2006/10/29/woman_brands_he.php
She ain''t half-bad, I would do her in a pinch. But she ain''t worth getting a tatoo over.

hey shouldn''''t have branded him, but it does sound like the victim was an immature idiot as well. Looks like they all got what they deserve.

Posted by tmcoop

That is pure cr*ap. The guy should be allowed to brand her in a most prominent place. She needs to stay in jail for at least 10 years...she got off easy.

She should also be required to pay for his medical, and plastic surgery.

[usmcvn2]

What we need here is a law to band branding irons!! However could it be that branding irons don''t brand people, people brand people!

[mo005]

I went on a date with a girl once( she was so beautiful). The next day I was talking to a girl at the gas station that I had had as a patient a few years earlier, when this girl walks up and starts hitting me. I asked her what was her problem, and she accused me of going out on her. She was yelling at me right in front of this other girl. I finally got pissed and said hey I havent seen this person in a couple of years and whats it to you anyways. I said we went on one date thought you were cute but strange. I then told her that we would not be seeing each other again and I left. I saw her at a bar a couple of months later, she was running this dude all over the bar like a puppy( treating him like cr-ap). I knew I''d made a good decision after that. Some of these people out there are just plain wierd.

[tmcoop]

They shouldn''t have branded him, but it does sound like the victim was an immature idiot as well. Looks like they all got what they deserve.