Fort Worth Man Gets 10 Years For Homemade Bomb
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - A man who planted a bomb outside of his ex-wife's house in Colleyville last May is heading to federal prison.
David Barouch was sentenced to 10 years in prison Friday.
The 51-year-old former real estate agent took the stand during the sentencing hearing, and testified that he only meant to scare his ex, Jeanette Barouch, not to kill her.
He left a homemade bomb on her doorstep May 2, 2010, disguised as a set of salad bowls in a Fed-Ex box.
It didn't go off, but evidence later led police to Barouch.
The couple was in the middle of a contentious and lengthy divorce at the time.
"I haven't talked to him in four years, all I got were messages telling me I was going to hell, that god was going to deal with me, that I was a worm," she said. "All I got was hateful messages, what a liar I was, what I was doing to my kids."
The single mother of two addressed the court Friday, asking the judge to give her ex-husband the maximum sentence of 10 years for possession of an unregistered explosive device.
"I'm a little disappointed that they're not going after attempted murder in this case," she said. "The judge said he would have liked to give him 25 years but according to the law he could not."
The couple was married for 16 years, though Ms. Barouch said it wasn't a happy or healthy marriage.
"He's been threatening me for years, I'm very afraid and I'm frightened for my children." She said, "I understand why women stay in marriages, you're scared to get out, they threaten you, that they'll kill you if you left, so you stay where you're at. In a lot of ways after the bomb it's been much more peaceful because I know he's in jail and he won't come after me."
David Barouch testified in court that he was under tremendous stress due to the five-year long divorce battle in which the family's financial assets were being divided.
"My thinking at the time was extremely cloudy, my stress level was ridiculous," he explained in court. "Believe me, looking back I understand it was very illogical."
He maintained he never threatened his wife, and that he intentionally disabled the bomb so it would not detonate, and that it was only a scare tactic.
While Ms. Barouch is relieved to finally have this chapter of her life closed, she said it's sad to see it end like this.
"It was sad too to see someone that you did love and have children with and you see they're going to prison," said Barouch who has two sons with her ex-husband. "It's hard having it be your ex-husband, but being your father who's in prison for trying to kill your mother, it's got to be difficult."
