US woman gets 24 years for killing Indian man

New York: A 33-year-old American woman has been sentenced to 24 years in prison for pushing an Indian man to death in front of a subway train in an attack apparently motivated by religious animus. Erika Menendez had pleaded guilty in March before Queens Supreme Court Justice Gregory Lasak for shoving Sunando Sen, 46 to his death as the subway train entered the station on the night of December 27, 2012.

 

Menendez however insisted that she could not remember why she had pushed Sen onto the path of an approaching train. A report in the New York Post said Lasak expressed his outrage over Sen's death before sentencing her. “For whatever reason, when you gave your statement to police after you were arrested, you said, “I hate Muslims and the Hindus.” Do youremember that?” the judge asked.

 

Menendez replied she did not. You picked out Sen, who was on that platform and you stood behind him and you followed him,” the judge said. “This was a particularly brutal homicide. I can only imagine his final thoughts. That's a horrible, horrible way to die,” Lasak said adding that Menendez’s act terrorised the whole city. “Millions of people take the trains every day in New York City to go to work or to go to school or other destinations, and they want to feel safe,” Lasak said. “And this put a chilling effect on all the ridership.”

 

Sen, an immigrant from India, had lived in Queens for years and had opened his own printing and copying business near Columbia University. He wasunmarried and his parents were dead, according to roommates who lived with him in a small apartment.