November 9, 1998

THREE YOUNG MEN INDICTED IN ALLEGED BIAS ATTACK

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today the indictment of three young men on charges of viciously assaulting another young man who was visiting his uncle in South Ozone Park in September because of his ethnicity.

District Attorney Brown said, "This was a vicious and unprovoked attack on a defenseless young man because of his ethnicity. The acts alleged are to be condemned in the strongest possible terms."

District Attorney Brown identified the defendants as Peter DiMarco, 19, of 5-30 117th Street, College Point, Nuno Martins, 19, of 150-11 114th Street, South Ozone Park and Luis Amorim, 22, of 114-04 150th Avenue, South Ozone Park. They are all charged with attempted murder, gang assault, assault & aggravated harassment in connection with the attack on 19 year old Rishi Maharaj that occurred at about 9:00 p.m. on September 20, 1998 on 114th Street and 150th Avenue. The three defendants are also accused of assaulting Mr. Maharaj's uncle, 49 year old Prakash Gopee, who Mr. Maharaj was visiting at the time of the crime.

According to the indictment, with intent to cause the death of Mr. Maharaj, the defendants punched, kicked and beat him with baseball bats in the head and body while uttering racial slurs and imprecations to stay out of the neighborhood. Mr. Maharaj suffered a fractured jaw, head trauma and severe contusions as a result of the beating and was hospitalized for ten days. During the course of the crime, the victim's uncle attempted to intervene in order to stop the assault and, it is charged, was also assaulted by the defendants.

District Attorney Brown said, "Crimes such as those alleged in this case reinforce my longstanding view that New York State must adopt hate crimes legislation to help deter conduct such as that alleged in this case and to reinforce the message that it will not be tolerated."

The defendants each face up to 25 years in prison if they are convicted of the charges.

Assistant District Attorney Mariela Stanton, head of the District Attorney's Anti-Bias/Youth Gang Bureau and Assistant District Attorney Peter McCormack, Deputy Bureau Chief of the same bureau are in charge of the prosecution.

It is to be noted that an indictment is merely an accusation and that the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.