Tyrese Haspil, the assistant accused of the gruesome crime of beheading of his tech entrepreneur employer in the boss’s luxurious Manhattan apartment allegedly did it so his girlfriend wouldn’t break up with him.
Tyrese Haspil faces first-degree murder charges
Tyrese Haspil, 25, finally had his day in Manhattan Supreme Court to face murder charges for the brutal slaying of his boss Fahim Saleh, 33, in his $2.4 million apartment on July 13, 2020.
According to prosecutors, Haspil dismembered Saleh, 33, after having stolen $400,000 from him over several years, in order to keep his ill-gotten gains a secret from his then-girlfriend, Marine Chaveuz, fearing that she would leave him if she found out.
He reportedly believed that “suicide or homicide” where the only solution to his financial problems, and decided to go with the latter.
Investigations revealed that Haspil allegedly barged into the Nigerian ride-sharing company CEO’s apartment, using a Taser on him before stabbing him to death.
In court, Haspil’s defense attorney argued that the thieving assistant was suffering from “extreme emotional disturbance” at the time, which caused him to snap and kill the Gokada founder.
Despite this defense, Haspil has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder charges, which could result in a minimum sentence of 20 years to life in prison if convicted.
His lawyers likely presented the “emotional disturbance” defense to get a reduced sentence of five to 25 years.
Saleh had discovered that Haspil had robbed him of $90,000, which was actually less than a quarter of the funds he had actually stolen.
Despite catching his thieving assistant, Saleh made the fatal mistake of giving Haspil a chance to work it off and pay the money back, rather than reporting the crime to police.
Not only did Haspil continue to steal from Saleh, he was once again caught by his boss with his hand in the proverbial cookie jar.
Tyrese Haspil Resorts To Brutal Murder
It’s unclear if the tech CEO was planning to go to police after finding out his right-hand man was once again robbing him, but Haspil took the uncertainty of his fate out of his boss’s hands, but planning a murder that would “erase his debt and prevent Fahim Saleh from testifying in criminal proceedings.”
Footage from the building’s elevator showed Saleh being followed in by a man wearing a suit and mask. Haspil allegedly tased his boss right as the elevator opened directly into his apartment. The stabbing and dismembering was not caught on camera.
Saleh’s dismembered body was discovered by his cousin, who stopped by to do a wellness check after not hearing from him for several days.
Haspil had allegedly returned to the crime scene a day after killing his boss to clean up the evidence, but was interrupted by the cousin and fled through the fire escape.
Upon arrival at the crime scene, police found Saleh’s torso in his living room, with his head, arms, and legs separated into plastic bags. An electric saw, vacuum cleaner, and cleaning products were also discovered nearby.
Though he was rushed out by Saleh’s cousin, Haspil likely would have been implicated in the crime based off his greed and poor planning.
Detectives began suspecting Haspil after uncovering text messages in which Saleh accused him of the theft, he also continued to transfer Saleh’s cash to himself for four days after his death.
After the murder, Haspil’s credit card was used to purchase a power saw and cleaning products at Home Depot and to pay for rides to and from Saleh’s apartment.
He also failed to remove the murder clean up tools, the Home Depot receipt, and an “anti-felon disk” identification tag from the murder scene, which was matched to the Taser he had ordered to his Brooklyn residence a month prior.
