A Jamaica man may be spending the rest of his life in prison after being sentenced on Dec. 11 for the 2016 murder of a Jamaica Hills woman, prosecutors announced.
Yonatan Galvez-Marin of Normal Road received 25 years to life for killing Nazma Khanam on the night of Aug. 31, 2016, according to Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown.
Khanam was walking on Normal Road a few steps ahead of her husband Shamul Alam Khan, when the defendant suddenly approached her and demanded money from the woman, according to the Brown’s office.
Law enforcement sources said that Khanam refused to give the defendant what he wanted and moments later was stabbed once in the chest with a kitchen knife, and Galvez-Marin fled, according to the Brown’s office. Khanam was later rushed to a local hospital but ultimately was pronounced dead.
On Sept. 3, 2016, detectives from the NYPD apprehended Galvez-Marin at the crime scene as they conducted an investigation, according to Brown’s office. Galvez-Marin was convicted in a jury trial within a week of second-degree murder, attempted robbery, and criminal possession of a weapon in October.
“This was a cowardly act of senseless violence against an innocent, defenseless woman. The defendant – a young man in his early 20s – pounced on a 60-year-old woman as she walked in Jamaica Hills on a warm summer night,” said Brown.
