Man Sentenced To Nearly 27 Years For Killing Girlfriend

A Queens man who fled to California following the disappearance in November 1999 of his former girlfriend has been sentenced to 26 1/3 years to life in prison for her murder.
The defendant has been identified as Farid (John) Popal, 36, of 38833 Bell Street in Fremont, California.
He was convicted on April 5, 2006, of second-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence, first-degree falsifying business records and fifth-degree conspiracy by a jury after a six-week trial.
“The defendant has been convicted of murdering a young woman and callously disposing of her body in the hopes of concealing his crime,” said District Attorney Richard A. Brown. “In the process, he has allowed her family to drift in a sea of uncertainty for more than five years, grappling with the knowledge that they may never have the body of their loved one returned to them. . .The punishment imposed by the court of 26 1/3 years to life in prison is more than warranted.”
According to Brown, the victim, Samiya Haqiqi, 24, a Quinnipiac College law student, left school in Hamden, Connecticut, on a Friday afternoon to drive to her family’s home in Flushing. She has not been seen since.
Her locked 1997 Volkswagen Jetta was found in a Grand Union parking lot at Northern Boulevard and Marathon Parkway in Little Neck.
According to trial testimony, Farid Popal murdered Haqiqi on November 12, 1999, and, allegedly with the assistance of his younger brother Farhad, then 24, disposed of the victim’s body, personal effects and clothing and concealed and destroyed blood evidence on the front passenger seat of his 1997 Pontiac Grand Prix; and that he thereafter requested an unsuspecting employee to clean up evidence of a fire at a transmission shop — where his brother was employed — and assist him in obtaining a replacement front passenger seat for his car. On November 16, 1999, the defendant, according to the testimony, filed false reports with the 102nd Precinct and the Blue Ridge Insurance Company claiming that his automobile had been stolen.
The defendant’s brother, Farhad (Frank), formerly of Flushing, is awaiting trial on charges of first-degree hindering prosecution, tampering with physical evidence and fifth-degree conspiracy. He faces consecutive seven-year terms in prison if convicted.