A Bayside husband and wife faced justice on Tuesday more than 3 1/2 years after they kidnapped and brutally tortured their housekeeper.
Devanand and Ambar Lachman, both 35-year-old residents of 217th Street, pleaded guilty in September 2017 to charges in connection with the Feb. 13, 2015, kidnapping and assault. At their sentencing on Aug. 21, Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said, Devanand Lachman was ordered to serve 10 years behind bars and five years’ post-release supervision, while Ambar Lachman was handed down a five-year probation sentence.
“The defendants suspected their housekeeper — who had been working for them for several months — had stolen from their home,” Brown said in a statement. “But the real crime in this case occurred when the defendants decided to take the law into their own hands by abducting the woman.”
Law enforcement sources said the incident occurred on the afternoon of Feb. 13, 2015, when the housekeeper, identified as Daisy Machuca, was confronted by Devanand Lachman and an unapprehended male suspect inside the Lachman home. Armed with knives and a firearm, the two men seized the housekeeper’s phone and wallet; Devanand Lachman, who accused Machuca of stealing cash and a gold chain, then repeatedly punched her.
Later that day, Ambar Lachman returned home and watched Machuca as her husband repeatedly struck her and burned her feet with a welding blow torch. Prosecutors said that Ambar Lachman allegedly told Machuca that she knew of the alleged theft, and threatened to kill her if they didn’t tell them where the money and jewelry were.
Authorities said that Ambar Lachman then took the housekeeper’s keys and traveled out to her Port Washington home, where she searched for the money and chain, but did not locate them. Ambar then returned back to Bayside, picked up her husband, Machuca and the unidentified male suspect and went back to the victim’s home, where the search continued.
According to published reports, the trio left Machuca at the home just after 9 p.m., and threatened to return the following day and kill her if she didn’t have the stolen money. Machuca contacted police shortly after the suspects departed.
Officers from the 111th Precinct apprehended Devanand and Ambar Lachman a short time later at their home. The unapprehended suspect remains at large.
