By Gina Martinez
A Fresh Meadows man pleaded guilty to the beating death of his live-in girlfriend and has been sentenced to 15 years in prison, according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
Chitwah Tse, 73, entered a guilty plea in December to manslaughter and was sentenced last week to 15 years in prison and five years probation following his release, according to the DA .
“In pleading guilty to manslaughter, the defendant admitted to brutally killing the 61-year-old woman whom he had shared his life with,” Brown said. “The victim was beaten bloody and left for dead in their bed that was soaked crimson red. The defendant will likely spend the rest of his life incarcerated for this heinous crime.”
According to police, Tse shared a basement apartment with 61-year-old girlfriend Huizhen Zhan and a third person on 158-10 65th Ave.
On Aug. 1 Tse’s lawyer, Garo Kapikian, called the 107th Precinct and told police his new client, Tse, had walked into his office earlier in the afternoon and informed him there was a corpse in his basement apartment, the DA said.
Officers responded to the Fresh Meadows address and entered through the front door where there was no sign of forced entry. Both doors to the bedrooms were locked, police said.
When police broke down the bedroom doors, they saw Zhan’s body lying on a bed in the rear bedroom, the DA said.
Her body was covered with a sheet that was soaked in blood. There was also blood on the walls and ceiling and broken glass on the bed, the DA said.
When officers removed the sheets, they discovered deep lacerations on Zhan’s body.
Her cellphone was discovered on her bedside table, and police found blood in the adjoining bathroom’s shower stall and toilet, Brown said.
Zhan’s death was ruled a homicide due to blunt force trauma by the chief medical examiner Aug. 2
On Aug. 3 between 2:15 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. NYPD’s Hostage Negotiation Team arrived at Tse’s lawyers offices in Manhattan where he had climbed over a balcony railing on the 22nd floor,. He then went out onto an I-Beam adjoining the balcony railing and threatened to jump, according to Brown.
He was safely brought inside the building by officers, taken to Bellevue Hospital and charged with the death of Zhan.
Reach Gina Martinez by e-mail at gmart
