UNITED STATES: Sayfullo Saipov was sentenced to ten life sentences and 260 years for ramming a truck full of people onto a Manhattan street, killing eight of them. He had shown no remorse during the trial and was informed he had “destroyed so many lives”.
The judge noted Saipov’s “sheer unrepentant nature” during his sentence on Wednesday after he was challenged by the families and survivors of the victims.
Saipov, 35, ambushed pedestrians and bicycles on the West Side of Manhattan’s downtown on Halloween 2017 while operating a leased vehicle. Prosecutors claimed he thought the attack would help him earn membership in the Islamic State, or ISIS.
Monica Missio, mother of Nicholas Cleves, who was killed in the deadly attack, expressed her anger at Saipov’s harshness and depravity.
Rachel Pharn, who survived the attack, claimed she could forgive Saipov for the harm he caused to her but could not forgive him for the anguish he inflicted on other people who had come to hear the sentence. She said, “That is between you, them, and Allah.”
In addition to a 31-year-old Belgian woman who was travelling to the city, five people who were killed were tourists from Argentina. Twelve people were hurt, two of them fatally, including a 32-year-old finance professional and a 23-year-old software engineer.
The US District Judge Vernon spoke to Saipov before delivering his ruling. crimes committed by Saipov. According to Judge Broderick, “The defendant’s conduct in this case is among the worst, if not the worst, I have ever seen, both in terms of the impact on the victims and the defendant’s pure unrepentant attitude.”
“You didn’t and don’t care about their agony and suffering as a result of your insensitive and cowardly conduct,” US Judge further added.
According to testimony from Saipov’s attorney during the trial, he will likely spend the most of each day of his life in solitary confinement at the Federal Bureau of Prisons ADX facility in Florence, Colorado.
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