By Ivan Pereira
At a news conference after Dr. Mazoltuv Borukhova was indicted on first-degree murder and conspiracy charges in Dr. Daniel Malakov's death, Kelly and Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said from the outset of the case facts ballooned into a wealth of evidence against her and her relative accused of pulling the trigger.”They did an outstanding job in this investigation,” Kelly said of the 112th Precinct's detective squad. “Without any cooperation from the primary suspects they were able to identify those responsible for the murder of Daniel Malakov.” When police questioned Borukhova, 34, following the shooting, she claimed not to have heard any gunshots or to have seen a shooter despite being 10 feet away from her ex-husband.”I am a doctor, I don't even know what a gunshot sounds like,” she allegedly told investigators.Malakov, a Bukarian Jewish immigrant from Uzbekistan, was gunned down outside the Annadale Playground on 64th Road and Yellowstone Boulevard while dropping off his daughter Michelle to visit his ex-wife. Borukhova, who is also an Uzbek immigrant, had lost custody of the girl nearly a week before during a bitter custody battle.Kelly said authorities immediately began to suspect and investigate Borukhova as her testimony conflicted with accounts of the eyewitnesses near the park, some of whom told the TimesLedger shortly after the murder that they heard the shots half a block away. The commissioner said the case picked up steam when Georgia police detained Borukhova's distant uncle Mikhail Mallayev in November, after the NYPD tracked fingerprints on a makeshift silencer used by the shooter to his prints, which were on file for a 1994 arrest in Manhattan.He was indicted by a Queens grand jury on charges of second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon in December and was extradited to New York on Jan. 16.Kelly noted that 91 phone calls were made between Mallayev and Borukhova between Oct. 2 and Oct. 28 while only two were made following the shooting. Although DA Brown would not disclose the details of those calls, he said they were suspicious. “I don't call my doctor 90 times before I see them,” he said.The DA said detectives dug deeper into Mallayev, who he said is Borukhova's uncle through marriage, and found he had deposited $19,800 into 10 accounts in a Brooklyn bank a week after the shooting. Kelly said these facts were just part of even more evidence which he did not reveal that led to officers arresting Borukhova at her Forest Hills apartment building last Thursday night.After she was led to the 112th Precinct for booking, Malakov's relatives arrived and spent the night cursing her from the outside.”We hope you're ripped to pieces in prison,” one of them said in his native Russian.The night behind bars did not seem to phase Borukhova as she entered the court room showing no emotion and pleaded not guilty to charges before Judge Robert Hanophy. Her attorney, Stephen Scaring, dismissed the DA's claims as insufficient and said they did not incriminate his client.”I didn't see any overwhelming evidence. It's all puff,” he said.As she was being led away by court officers, Borukhova nodded silently to her sisters who were inside the courtroom. They did not speak to reporters following the hearing.Brown said first-degree murder and conspiracy charges were added onto the original counts against Mallayev, her uncle. If convicted, both Borukhova and Mallayev face life in prison without parole. The judge scheduled the next court hearing for both suspects Friday. Malakov's family said they were angry with Borukhova and wished she received a worse punishment.”She killed my son. She ordered it. She has to die, too,” said Malakov's father Khaika outside the court.During a custody hearing in Queens Family Court in November, state Sen. Diane Savino (D-Staten Island) testified that Bourkhova's sisters met with her 10 days before the shooting and asked suspicious questions.”What if something happens?” the senator recalled the sisters as asking. “What if he can't take care of her? What if she [Michelle] disappears?”Reach reporter Ivan Pereira by e-mail at ipereira@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
