A man who set his wife on fire was sentenced Wednesday to 21 years to life in prison for what his son emotionally described as the "selfish, gruesome act" that took his mother's life. At times choking back tears, the son said his mother gave birth to him at 17 — "this man's child."
Antonio Bargallo, 69, said nothing after the son and namesake explained his devastation and bewilderment at the violent loss of his mother on March 4. Bargallo poured gasoline on his 48-year-old wife, Elizabeth Gonzales, set a fire in their Elmer Avenue home and walked to a Schenectady police station. A neighbor rushed to Gonzales' aid, but she died the next day after being flown to the Westchester Medical Center's burn unit.
"I never thought this would happen in a million years to a good woman that was good to a man that was selfish and really didn't care about anything but what mattered to him," Antonio Bargallo Jr. told Judge Matthew Sypniewski as he stood just a few feet from his father in Schenectady County Court.
"I don't get it; I will never get it," he said. "And I'll never get the answers. ... Only he will. And we'll never know. And that's not fair. It's not. She was so good to everybody."
"I'm slowly losing everything because I lost my mother. I don't know what to do," Antonio Bargallo Jr. said. "I lost my best friend, my guidance. My blood, sweat and tears is gone from the selfish gruesome act. Me and my brother are never going to be the same people ever again."
Defense attorney Stephen Signore told the judge Bargallo had expressed remorse, prompting a male relative in the courtroom to shout, "Come on man!" before storming out. Bargallo Jr. walked out as well.
The defendant pleaded guilty July 19 to second-degree murder. He waived his right to appeal.
Elizabeth Gonzales
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