The sicko accused of butchering 35-year-old Christina Yuna Lee in her Chinatown house claimed he was “making an attempt to assist the woman,” it was revealed Wednesday — as he was indicted within the brutal slaying.
Assamad Nash, 25, remained stone-faced as he was arraigned in Manhattan Supreme Courtroom on prices of homicide, housebreaking and sexually motivated housebreaking within the heinous Feb. 13 crime. He entered a plea of not responsible by way of his lawyer Wednesday afternoon — after initially refusing to return to court docket within the morning.
Nash, a homeless man with previous robberies and petit crimes on his rap sheet, allegedly adopted Lee, a Korean American artistic producer, into her dwelling and stabbed her to loss of life with a knife from her personal kitchen.
The vile act despatched shockwaves by way of town amid a surge in violence focusing on New Yorkers of Asian descent.
New court docket paperwork reveal how Nash allegedly claimed to law enforcement officials he was a sufferer, too, after they busted into Lee’s house at 111 Chrystie Avenue and located him hiding below the mattress.
“I used to be making an attempt to assist this feminine getting damage by different individuals. I used to be making an attempt to assist the woman,” he advised cops — whereas claiming that the attacker stabbed him within the leg earlier than escaping.
He continued ranting outdoors Lee’s dwelling, saying one thing like, “The dude stabbed us up,” in accordance with the submitting.
“I'm from Chinatown and I'm for my individuals,” the doc describes the sicko as saying.
Chilling surveillance video allegedly confirmed Nash trailing Lee as she walked up six flights of stairs to her house at round 4:20 a.m., ensuring to remain a flooring behind her.
Lee had simply come dwelling from a close-by membership in an Uber, and her attacker slipped into the constructing behind her.
When she opened her house door, the creep ran up and pushed his approach in, prosecutors mentioned.
“Instantly thereafter neighbors started to listen to sounds” of a battle and “requires assist,” Assistant District Legal professional Dafna Yoran mentioned in court docket.
A neighbor throughout the hallway from the lady’s house known as 911 round 4:22 a.m. after listening to her determined screams.
“I heard her screaming for assist,” Lee’s subsequent door neighbor advised The Publish the day after the horrifying homicide. “I heard another person inside her house, he was making an attempt to make her quiet.”
“She was screaming, ‘Assist me!’” mentioned the neighbor, who declined to establish himself.
The sufferer fought fiercely for her life, leaving her attacker with cuts to his physique, police sources have mentioned.
Officers arrived in just some minutes — however couldn’t get inside, Yoran mentioned.
Nash, in the meantime, tried to flee utilizing the house’s hearth escape, however slipped again inside after a police officer on the roof noticed him.
Talking to cops by way of the door, Nash tried to get them to “go away,” claiming he was alone and didn’t need assistance, the filings state.
Police busted the door open at round 5:40 a.m. and found Lee within the lavatory coated in blood — with greater than 40 stab wounds to her torso, head and neck, in accordance with prosecutors.
“The sufferer was bare from the waist up and none of her property had been touched,” Yoran mentioned.
The bloodied yellow-handled knife, from a kitchen set belonging to Lee, was discovered hidden behind a dresser.
Nash, who additionally suffered stab wounds, was hauled into an ambulance, the place he acted nervous for his alleged sufferer, asking a cop if she was OK and saying one thing like, “We had been partying and the dude escaped,” the court docket docs state.
“The defendant acknowledged that he was simply making an attempt to guard the sufferer that there was one other man who stabbed them each and escaped,” Yoran mentioned in court docket.
At Bellevue Hospital later that day, the accused monster once more claimed he was harmless — and threatened a police officer for cracking his knuckles, in accordance with the submitting.
“If it’s not on video, how can they are saying it’s me?” he later advised a detective, in accordance with the court docket doc.
On the time of the sickening crime, Nash, who lived in a close-by homeless shelter, was out on supervised launch on 4 open circumstances, together with assaulting a stranger on the subway, Yoran famous. He additionally has an intensive rap sheet in New Jersey and a juvenile file.
The alleged killer was notably absent when prosecutors served the indictment Wednesday morning. Choose Laura Ward mentioned she’d been advised he refused to return to court docket from Rikers Island, the place he’s been locked up since Feb. 14.
Nash confirmed no emotion as he was introduced into court docket within the afternoon, sporting a beige jail uniform.
“Right this moment’s indictment marks the start of our pursuit of justice within the title of Christina Yuna Lee, a brilliant and beloved New Yorker who shouldn't have had her life reduce quick in such a violent, surprising method in her own residence,” mentioned District Legal professional Alvin Bragg in an announcement.
“Ms. Yuna Lee’s loss of life not solely devastated her family members, however struck concern into the hearts of our AAPI neighbors, who've already suffered far an excessive amount of ache in recent times,” he mentioned.
Lee, who labored for the music platform Splice, had been within the house for lower than a yr, in accordance with the constructing’s proprietor, who remembered her as “such a candy woman.”
If convicted, Nash faces a minimal of 25 years a most of life with out parole. His subsequent court docket date is July 18.
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