#LI man who killed wife was ‘mentally and emotionally abusive,’ family says

The Long Island man who fatally shot his wife in front of their children was “mentally and emotionally abusive” towards the mother-of-two, who started standing up to her husband after they purchased a home earlier this year, according to family.

Cathiana Bonny, 35, was gunned down about 8:50 p.m. Monday by Paul Bonny, 34, on the driveway of their Deer Park home, according to neighbors and video footage provided to The Post.

Paul then shot himself in an attempted suicide, Suffolk County police said.

“Her husband has been essentially abusive towards her since the beginning of the relationship, mostly mentally and emotionally abusive,”  said Cathiana’s brother, Richard Celestin.

During the couple’s 12-year relationship, Cathiana’s husband “isolated her from friends and family,” Celestin said.

Celestin believes that on Monday night his sister was trying to leave the house they had purchased last Spring. “It seems she got fed up and was essentially fleeing,” he said.

Footage shows Cathiana collapsing on the driveway after being shot twice. Paul then turned the gun on himself before falling on the front lawn.

In the heart wrenching video, the children, ages 6 and 12, are seen kneeling over their mother and also checking on their father. One of the girls is seen jumping.

Celestin said the couple’s relationship was filled with arguments and fights but she “was starting to feel more empowered after she purchased the house and she started standing up to him.”

Worried relatives desperately tried to get her help during the course of their marriage but Cathiana stuck through it. They were also concerned because they knew he owned multiple guns, Celestin said.

“My parents were concerned he would harm her,” Celestin said. “I tried. I offered my house, I connected her to a counselor. I checked up on her.”

“I think unfortunately women who are in abusive relationships tend to look past the verbal, physical and emotional abuse and justify it by thinking that is how they show love,” Celestin added.

“I think he had his moments of being nice and caring and I think she clung to those moments.”

The two girls are with a relative and are holding up well considering the circumstances, Celestin said.

He had a few choice words for their father, who he believes is in a vegetative state.

“He is clearly a coward and he should have just taken his own life and let them be happy.”

Meanwhile stunned neighbors said they saw no indications of the danger lurking inside the home.

But at least one neighbor admitted she believed she heard the couple fighting on Sunday.