Tyrese Haspil, convicted of brutally murdering his former employer and Pathao co-founder Fahim Saleh in 2020, has been sentenced to 40 years to life in prison.
The Manhattan Supreme Court handed down the sentence on Tuesday for Haspil, 25, after a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder, grand larceny, concealment of a human corpse and related counts in June, reports the New York Daily News.
The trial exposed his calculated efforts to steal more than $400,000 from his former employer, Fahim Saleh, and dismember his body in a failed attempt to cover up the crime.
The court, packed with onlookers, heard Haspil’s unexpected statement during the sentencing hearing – he rejected his attorney’s plea for leniency and instead agreed with the prosecution’s request for consecutive 25-year sentences. “Unlike my counsel, I don’t think anything less than life without parole would be appropriate.”
Before imposing the sentence, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice April Newbauer said Haspil appeared to be driven primarily by greed.
“It seems like money played a major role in the answer. One person had it, another took it and wanted to keep taking it without consequences, at all costs. This is the very essence of greed,” Newbauer said.
Fahim Saleh, 33, the victim of the crime, was the co-founder of two companies, including Gokada, a motorcycle ride-sharing service in Nigeria.
Born to Bangladeshi parents and raised in Rochester, New York, Fahim had employed Haspil as an assistant in 2018.
Despite catching him embezzling money, Fahim chose not to report the crime to authorities, instead offering Haspil a repayment plan – a gesture of compassion that jurors later heard during the trial.
“My brother took a chance on you, a chance you did not deserve,” Fahim’s younger sister, Rifayat Saleh, said in an emotional victim impact statement.
“You’re a con man, and you’re a murderer. I have no sympathy for you.”
Haspil resigned from his position in 2019, fearing Fahim would discover the extent of his thefts.
Jurors learned that Haspil had meticulously planned the murder over several months, driven by anxiety that Fahim would uncover his fraudulent schemes, which had netted him at least $400,000.
On the night of July 13, 2020, Haspil stalked someone entering Fahim’s building and then waited for Fahim to return home after a run.
As jurors were told during the trial, Haspil followed Fahim into his apartment via the elevator, tased him from behind, and then stabbed him fatally in the neck and torso.
The next day, Haspil returned to the crime scene, using an electric saw to dismember Fahim’s body in a grotesque attempt to hide the evidence.
When the saw’s battery ran out, he left to buy a replacement charger at a nearby Home Depot.
During his absence, Fahim’s cousin entered the apartment and found the dismembered body, missing his arms, legs and head.
Haspil was arrested about a week later at an Airbnb he had rented for himself and his girlfriend.
Fahim’s relatives called him out for wearing a suit to trial that he had purchased with Fahim’s stolen money.
“Even after the defendant stole from him to fund a lavish lifestyle, Mr Saleh still gave him a second chance,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement, describing Fahim as “a kind, generous and empathetic person who positively impacted the world.”
Haspil’s attorney, Sam Roberts, argued for a lenient sentence, saying his client had shown remorse and horror at his actions.
Roberts explained that Haspil had endured significant trauma throughout his life, including being raised by his grandmother after his mother was institutionalized and later experiencing abuse in the foster care system.
He had never tried to avoid responsibility for this, Roberts said. “He’s a young man who’s still trying to understand how this happened and who he was during those fateful months.”