A Jamaica man could spend the rest of his life in prison after being convicted last week of stabbing a Jamaica Hills woman to death in front of her husband on a neighborhood street, prosecutors announced on Monday.
After a week-long trial, Yonatan Galvez-Marin, 25, was found guilty on Oct. 26 of second-degree murder before Supreme Court Judge Michael B. Aloise, according to Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown.
On the night of Aug. 31, 2016, prosecutors said, Nazma Khanam, 60, was walking a few steps ahead of her husband on Normal Road between 160th and 161st streets when Galvez-Marin approached her in Jamaica Hills as the couple was heading home. The defendant demanded money, but Khanam refused.
Seconds later, as noted in trial testimony, Galvez-Marin stabbed Khanam in the chest once with a kitchen knife and fled. She was later rushed to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Khanam was the aunt of Police Officer Humayun Kabir, an officer who, as of 2016, was assigned to NYPD Transit Division 2.
Three days later, police found the suspect near the crime scene as they were conducting an investigation, according to Brown.
“This was a cowardly act of violence,” said Brown. “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. The defendant now faces a lengthy prison sentence as punishment for this crime.”
Galvez-Martin is scheduled to return to court on Dec. 11 for sentencing, and could be ordered to serve up to 25 years to life behind bars.
