New York (Washington Insider Magazine) – A soap opera-like trial is taking place in NYC, with an immigrant accused of wanting to kill her hairdresser friend by poisoning her to steal her identity. The suspect is also linked to a homicide in Russia.
A soap opera-like trial is taking place in New York, with an immigrant accused of wanting to kill a hairdresser by poisoning her to steal her identity.
worker In NYC
Olga Syvk, a Ukrainian beauty salon worker in NYC, testified in court Tuesday with the help of an interpreter about her near-death experience with a poisoned dessert fed to her by her then-friend, the now defendant. Russian Viktoriya Nasyrova. Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz was in the courtroom during part of Syvk’s dramatic testimony.
Syvk told jurors that Nasyrova passed her a slice of poisoned cheesecake fresh from a Brooklyn bakery in August 2016 in an attempt to kill her to steal her identity, as the two women bear a certain physical resemblance.
“I couldn’t get out of bed,” Syvk said, referring to how he felt after eating the allegedly poisoned dessert. He had previously told the Daily News that Nasyrova also served him contaminated chicken soup. “My head hurt terribly. My sister was helping me go to the bathroom. At first it was very bad, but then gradually I got better.”
Emmanuel Calderón, a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) chemist, said at trial that tests showed that a food container found in the victim’s home contained phenazepam, a type of tranquilizer.
According to prosecutors, at one point the suspect fled the victim’s home in Forest Hills, Queens with her passport and work permit (green card), a gold ring, and cash in the apparent identity theft scam.
Nasyrova Was Arrested
Nasyrova was arrested about seven months later. She was charged with attempted murder, grand theft, reckless endangerment, unlawful imprisonment and other charges.
Prosecutors said at the time that the owner of the building found Tsvyk “dressed in lingerie with pills scattered on her body” to make the scene look like a suicide attempt. The defendant faces a sentence of 25 years to life in prison if he is convicted in the case.
Homeland Security special agent Sean Quinn testified that there was a “red notice” posted on a national crime database indicating that the defendant was wanted in Russia for “pending legal proceedings.” Her US visa was also set to expire just days after the assassination attempt, he added.
Syvk recalled receiving a phone call some time after from Nasyrova asking about her condition. “She told me: ‘Olga, I can’t locate you, what happened?'” the witness recounted. “I told her that she was in the hospital, I told her ‘you poisoned me and you robbed me. She said, ‘Okay, then go to the police.'”
In addition to the poisoning, Svyk accused Nasyrova of selling all of her clothing and jewelry for around $100,000. “It’s like a really bad movie,” she added. “Sometimes I really don’t think it happened to me.”
Daily News previously reported that Nasyrova had moved to New York City in 2014 from Russia to avoid authorities after allegedly killing Alla Aleksenko, 54, whose charred remains were found buried in a grave in western Russia.
All charges are mere accusations and those charged are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.
This article is written by EI Diario.