Killer Of South Boston Grandmother Sentenced To Life In Prison
BOSTON (CBS) — A man convicted last week in the brutal murder of a South Boston grandmother was formally sentenced Wednesday to life in prison shortly after her family shared the ongoing pain of their loss.
A Suffolk County Superior Court jury found Timothy Kostka, 30, guilty last Friday of first-degree murder in the death of Barbara Coyne.
Coyne, 67, was found beaten with her throat slit inside her home on East 7th Street on April 16, 2012.
Prosecutors said Kostka knew the Coyne family and broke into their home to steal some valuable fishing equipment that belonged to Coyne's son Richard, who lived in the apartment upstairs.
Richard Coyne heard noises and returned to his mother's home to find her dying on the floor.
She was able to give him a description of her attacker before she died. She also managed to get enough of Kostka's DNA under her fingernails to lead investigators to him.
Prosecutors say Kostka took a winning lottery ticket from Coyne's home and cashed it in at a nearby store after the murder. He then used some of the stolen money to buy heroin in Roxbury.
"I often find it's the little things that I miss the most, like going down to her house every morning, sitting with her and having coffee and talking," Richard Coyne told the court Wednesday during the victim impact statements before sentencing.
"I've come to realize it wasn't the coffee, 'cause God knows it wasn't the best coffee in the world, but it was the best part of my day and that's been taken away from me forever."
Barbara Coyne's sister Pat Donahue told the judge Timothy Kostka "does not belong in society. He is far too dangerous to everyone."
Coyne's granddaughter Sinead Coyne also shared her feelings in court.
"I could allow the rage and pain of what this monster has ripped from me and my family, could let it consume me or I could allow it to strengthen me and I choose the latter," she said.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Karyn Regal reports