Victims confront man convicted in New York bike-path attack

By Luc Cohen and Brendan O’Brien

NEW YORK (Reuters) -The mother of a New Yorker killed in 2017 when a man driving a truck mowed down cyclists and pedestrians on a crowded Manhattan bike path told a hushed courtroom on Wednesday that no punishment meted out to the attacker could compare to her pain.

“This evil murderer has destroyed so many lives,” Monica Missio, the mother of victim Nicholas Cleves, said at a sentencing hearing for Sayfullo Saipov, who was convicted in January of murder and terrorism charges. Eight people were killed and 12 were injured.

“It disgusts me that he gets to wake up every day while my son does not, she said. “His barbarism and cruelty fills me with rage.”

Missio was among the more than 20 victims and family members of those killed who spoke before U.S. District Judge Vernon Broderick formally metes out a sentence of life without parole to the 35-year-old Saipov. The life sentence became automatic after a jury deadlocked on whether Saipov should receive the death penalty.

Saipov used a Home Depot (NYSE:) rental truck to cut down people on a path along the Hudson (NYSE:) River on Manhattan’s West Side. He had hoped the attack would help him gain membership in Islamic State, or ISIS, prosecutors said. The United States designates ISIS as a terrorist organization.

Rachel Pharn, who survived the attack, said she wanted to know what had motivated Saipov.

“Mr. Saipov, I can forgive you for what you did to me, for breaking my spirit,” Pharn said. “But when I look around the room, when I think of all the pain you caused, that I cannot forgive. That is between you, them and Allah.”

Many of those killed or injured were foreign nationals visiting New York, the biggest U.S. city. Most of the people who spoke at the hearing traveled from Argentina and Belgium.

Saipov looked downward, with a headset over his ears to listen to an interpreter, as the father of victim Ann-Laure Decadt said he hoped that one day Saipov would be able to persuade others not to engage in similar attacks.

“Mr. Saipov, I have not heard any sign of remorse from you,” said Frank Decadt, who is from Belgium. “But it is my hope that one day you will understand the extent of the horror that you have inflicted on so many people, and also understand that what you have done cannot be repaired.”

It was unclear whether Saipov would address the court. He is expected to be housed at Colorado’s Supermax facility, the most secure U.S. federal prison, where he is due to spend 22 or 23 hours a day alone in a cell with a concrete bed.

Saipov’s case was the first federal death penalty trial since Democratic President Joe Biden took office in 2021. Biden had pledged during his campaign to abolish capital punishment in federal cases.

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