An Astoria man who fatally stabbed his guest was sentenced Tuesday to 25 years to life, according to Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown.
Wahid Elawame, 39, of Steinway Street, was found guilty on April 6 of second-degree murder.
On May 4, 2012, Elawame was in his apartment with three other men. At approximately 11:30 p.m., the victim, Mrwan Said, tried to leave the apartment with two other visitors. Elawame refused to let them leave and proceeded to stab and slash Said to death, Brown said.
The remaining visitors escaped by jumping out of the apartment window and landing on the roof of Layali Beirut, a restaurant on the ground floor. When police entered the apartment, they found Said in a pool of his own blood with puncture wounds to his hands and chest. Elawame was found sitting on a couch across from Said smoking a cigarette, according to trail records.
“This was an especially violent crime in which the defendant refused to allow three men who were visiting him in his apartment to leave,” Brown said. “Last month a jury convicted the defendant and the court has now sentenced him to a lengthy term behind bars that will protect society and punish him for needlessly killing another man.”
