Court sentences a man to 40 years in prison for beheading the founder of Gokada Nigeria

A cruel killer who killed his mentor after stealing nearly $400,000 from him to impress his French lover told a Manhattan judge that he deserved to spend the rest of his life in prison.

According to the New York Post, convicted killer Tyrese Haspil was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison for the 2020 Lower East Side murder and decapitation of tech CEO Fahim Saleh after oddly breaking with his attorney in a dramatic moment that stunned the court.

Haspil had been listening to his lawyer argue in court for over an hour Tuesday that the 50-year life sentence prosecutors sought for him was far too harsh — when the defendant asked to speak.

“Unlike my counsel, I don’t believe anything less than life without parole would be suitable.

” he told Judge April Newbauer, shocking the courtroom.

The unexpected statement brought an end to the terrible case and frequently odd judicial proceedings.
Haspil, 25, was charged with second-degree murder in the slaying on July 13, 2020, inside Saleh’s $2.2 million East Houston Street apartment, officials said.

“To you, Fahim was just a dollar sign, a ticket to a life you didn’t work for,” Saleh’s sister, Rif Saleh, said in an emotional victim impact statement before Manhattan Supreme Court.

“What impact have you made on the world?” answered the woman. “You are a con guy and a killer. I have no pity for you. “You deserve to spend your entire life in prison.”

Saleh’s father, Ahmed Saleh, described the killer’s murder defence as “sickening.”

What you paid back to me and my family and to my son is a dead body ripped up to pieces,” he said. “He should spend the rest of his years in prison where he belongs.”

Cops said Haspil worked as Saleh’s “executive assistant” and handled the international entrepreneur’s “finances and personal matters” — and owed his boss “a significant amount of money.”

The debt stemmed from Haspil’s alleged embezzlement of $400,000 from Saleh, who in 2018 founded Gokada, a Nigerian motorcycle ride-sharing company that recently transitioned into a delivery service.

Saleh, described by one pal as “the Elon Musk of the developing world,” even gave Haspil the title of chief of staff at his Adventure Capital investment firm — only to have his protégé rip him off.

Nonetheless, when Saleh learned of Haspil’s betrayal and the stolen monies, he decided to work out a repayment arrangement rather than turn the thief in to the cops.

That decision ended his life.

According to investigators, Haspil used a Taser to incapacitate Saleh inside the building’s elevator.

In disturbing evidence, he later claimed that he “took out a knife and started aiming for his neck.”

The killer said that he chopped up the body with an electrical saw he purchased using his victim’s credit card from a local Home Depot and packed the remains in plastic bags.

Surveillance video purportedly shows him entering and exiting the establishment.

At a June court hearing, Haspil testified that he started working for Faleh in 2018 after padding his resume with phony work experience — after being canned from a Long Island restaurant for embezzling $20,000.

He testified that he needed the cash to keep his high-maintenance French girlfriend, Marine Chaveuz, immersed in the lavish lifestyle that she was accustomed to.

Haspil was convicted of first- and second-degree murder, grand larceny and burglary in June.

The killer’s Legal Aid lawyer, Jim Roberts, argued that his client didn’t deserve the hefty prison sentence that Manhattan prosecutors had requested.

“This is de facto life without parole,” Roberts said, defending Haspil while citing medical literature that proves that Haspil was an “emerging adult” — someone still developing — at the time of the crimes.

He claimed the convicted murderer was only 19 when he began embezzling monies.

Prosecutors sought a 50-year-to-life term and a $399,614 judgment for the money Haspil stole.