The former assistant of slain tech mogul Fahim Saleh was convicted Monday of murdering his boss in a ritzy Manhattan high-rise — after jurors rejected his claim that he killed out of “unconditional love” for his girlfriend that he was trying to impress.
Tyrese Haspil, 25, was found guilty of first-degree murder — and now faces up to life in prison — for killing and butchering Saleh, 33, in what prosecutors called a twisted bid to hide his theft of $400,000 of Saleh’s money that the convicted killer was using to live large.
Jurors in Manhattan Supreme Court took just three hours to convict Haspil on all charges that he’d faced for Tasing the Bangladeshi-American entrepreneur to incapacitate him, then stabbing him to death inside Saleh’s $2.4 million seventh-floor condo on East Houston Street.
Haspil then used an electric saw to dismember Saleh and place his body parts in plastic bags that police found strewn across the apartment, prosecutors said.
Haspil took the stand during the month-long trial and cooly admitted to killing his former mentor, a venture capitalist and the CEO of Nigeria-based scooter startup Gokada.
Wearing a dark, plastic face shield with a baseball cap and sunglasses, Haspil rode the elevator with Saleh moments before the murder, trial evidence revealed.
Saleh joked to Haspil on the way up that he was “really taking this COVID [personal protection equipment] seriously,” Haspil testified.
When the tech CEO got off the elevator, “I Tased him in the back. I remember Tasing him in the back,” Haspil told jurors.
“I took out a knife and I started aiming for his neck,” the convicted killer testified.
“What are you doing?” Saleh shouted just before his gruesome death, Haspil recalled.
Haspil’s public defenders had argued that he committed the murder due to “extreme emotional disturbance” as he showered his French exchange student girlfriend with pricey gifts to give the impression he was a big-spending high-roller.
Haspil killed Saleh out of “unconditional love” for his girlfriend because he feared that she would leave him if she found out he’d been embezzling from his boss, his lawyers said.
His attorneys had urged the 12 jurors to convict Haspil on a lesser charge of manslaughter instead of premeditated murder, but the panelists unanimously rejected those arguments on Monday.
Haspil faces up to 25-years-to-life in prison when he’s sentenced on Sept. 10.
“Tyrese Haspil tragically cut Mr. Saleh’s life short – a man who came from a close-knit immigrant family and followed his passions to become a successful entrepreneur,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.
“I hope the accountability delivered by today’s verdict can provide a measure of comfort to Mr. Saleh’s loved ones as they continue to mourn his loss,” added Bragg, who attended Friday’s closing arguments in the trial in person.
Haspil’s defense attorney Sam Roberts, of the Legal Aid Society, said Haspil has “genuine remorse” about the killing — a factor that he hopes to use in a bid to argue for a lesser sentence.
“Tyrese is more than simply and only the sum of this worst thing that he has ever done,” Roberts told The Post.
Haspil “received the verdict with calm and with understanding, and was — as always — a gentleman,” Roberts added.
“He remains a young man who is trying to make sense of these terrible acts committed four years ago, including understanding the pain he has caused, and expressing genuine remorse for what he did.”
Source: New York Post
BDST: 1333 HRS, JUNE 27, 2024
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