NYC terrorist Sayfullo Saipov goes on hour-long rant before being hit with 8 life sentences
West Side Highway terrorist Sayfullo Saipov received over eight life sentences Wednesday — after going on an unrepentant hour-long rant insinuating his victims’ tears pale in comparison to the blood and tears of the Muslim people.
After victims spoke for over two hours about the horrors they endured and blasted Saipov as a “waste of space,” “garbage” and a “monster,” Manhattan federal Judge Vernon Broderick handed down the maximum sentence of eight lifetimes in prison, to be followed by another 260 years behind bars.
The judge also doled out an additional two life sentences to run at the same time as the rest.
Beforehand, Saipov, 35, through a translator, recited a history of Islam going back to its inception. After nearly an hour he said: “I was here in the court during the three-month trial, and I saw and I heard the victims’ families and friends.
“Tears of those families of the victims — maybe one handkerchief would hold their tears … the courtroom would be filled up with the tears and blood of the Muslim population.”
When Saipov concluded a woman cried out from the courtroom gallery: “The only act of the devil here, is the act you did!”
Broderick said Saipov’s conduct was among the worst he’d ever seen as a judge, “in terms of the impact it had on the victims and the sheer unrepentant nature of the defendant.”
Broderick said Saipov’s “homicidal rage” left emotional and physical “wreckage” in the lives of the victims and of Saipov’s own family.
“The eight people you murdered in cold blood were living their best lives,” Broderick said. “You snatched their lives from them.”
Earlier in the day, members of those killed and surviving victims spoke as Saipov kept his head bowed down and did not make eye contact or look in their direction — except when a few challenged him to look at them directly.
“He’s the very worst of humanity and an unfortunate waste of space,” said Monica Missio, the mother of 23-year-old New Yorker Nicholas Cleves, who was killed in Saipov’s Oct. 31, 2017 truck rampage.
“[He’s] nothing but detritus and shame on his family.”
A group of 19 victims delivered often emotional, statements for over two hours as the Uzbekistan immigrant sat stoically wearing navy blue prison clothes and glasses as he listened through a translator playing on headphones. Prosecutors also read written statements from two other victims.
Saipov was convicted of mowing down crowds with a Home Depot rental truck on a Manhattan bike path on Oct. 31, 2017, killing eight and injuring many more.
Missio told the courtroom about how she has been “subsumed with grief” since her son’s death and that the terror Nicholas must have felt in his last moments “will torment me forever.” Her son’s birthday is on Friday and he would have been 29.
“What a senseless waste of a beautiful life,” the mom said.
“I wasn’t there to protect him,” she said, through tears.
“No punishment will ever compare to the pain and suffering he has inflicted on me and the other families,” Missio said, adding that Saipov’s acts “completely destroyed my life.”
“To lose who you love most in this world and to live on is a fate worse than death,” the mother said.
Missio’s sister, Nicole Missio, told the courtroom about how her sister has become a shell of herself and emotionally died the same day her son did.
“I don’t care if the monster lives or dies,” Cleves’ aunt said. “This evil act happened and nothing will change that.”
The wife of Argentine victim Ariel Erlij — Gabriela Pereya — took the witness stand to deliver a brief, pointed message, through a translator, first telling the judge she was ashamed of the US justice system and then telling Saipov that if he wanted his god to accept and love him he should “go kill” himself.
Several family members of Argentine victim Alejandro Damian Pagnucco, through translators, spoke of the toll his death had on them.
Maria Alejandra Sosa, the widow of Pagnucco called Saipov “garbage” during her emotional address.
“Look at us Saipov,” Sosa challenged him, as his head remained downcast. “You cannot even raise your face and look at me and look at us. Are you proud of what you‘ve done?”
Sosa said her whole family will always be proud of Pagnucco.
“You’re worthless,” Sosa said. “You do not even deserve a place in this world. You are worth nothing. You have humiliated your family … your last name brings shame.”
Pagnucco’s sister, Viviana Pagnucco, told the courtroom that Saipov hasn’t expressed any remorse.
“You never showed any regret,” the sister said. “I wish that you would not want to wake up each morning and I wish you go crazy from loneliness maybe then I could sleep in peace.”
And Pagnucco’s daughter, Ornella Pagnucco, read a statement from her dad’s brother telling Saipov: “I despise you.”
The daughter told Saipov she will continue to ask herself for her “entire life” why he carried out the horrific rampage and said that now that justice has been carried out she, her family and her late dad will have peace.
“Saipov I wish you had the same fate that these people had in October,” Ornella said.
Many of the victims echoed that they will be haunted by the question of why Saipov carried out the ISIS-inspired attack that day, killing their loved ones or maiming them.
Amputee Marion Van Reeth rolled to the front of the courtroom in a wheelchair telling Saipov, “I am one of your victims. I will never be able to walk again.”
“Do you still see yourself as a soldier of ISIS? I really hope you will be able to rethink your beliefs,” Reeth said.
Vera Dargoltz, the widow of Argentine victim Hernan Ferrucci, speaking through a translator called Saipov “the lowest form of life,” and compared him to a “cockroach.”
Dargoltz held up a photo of her slain husband while saying, “He was more than just a name … He was the best human being that I ever knew.”
“He was a good man; he was a hard worker; a peaceful man. You have taken from us, you have taken from me, the one person I loved the most.”
Lieve Wyseur, the mother of Ann-Laure Decadt, successfully demanded that Saipov looked her in the eyes.
“Can you please do that for me now?” she implored, prompting Saipov to lift his head and look in her direction for a few moments.
“There is no god who can approve of killing innocent people and certainly not a young mother,” Wyseur said.
A jury in March was hung on whether to give Saipov the death sentence and so he will instead get the lighter penalty of life in prison.
