Community Voice Guilty Verdicts for NY Sikhs’ Assailants

Community Voice

Guilty Verdicts for NY Sikhs’ Assailants

Queens, NY—Waiting more than a year for justice, Rajinder Singh Khalsa heard the one word he has been seeking – “Guilty”. The Honorable Judge Seymour Rotker delivered on Monday the verdict against the 5 assailants of Rajinder Singh Khalsa as follows:

Nicholas and Sal Macelli: Guilty of Second Degree Felony Assault.

Terrance Lyons: Guilty of Aggravated Harassment.

Ryan Meehan: Guilty of Aggravated Harassment.

Victor Costontino: Guilty of Harassment.

54 year old Rajinder Singh Khalsa, and his cousin, GurcharanSingh, were viciously beaten by the above assailants in July of 2004 on their way to a local restaurant. The intoxicated perpetrators began shouting profanities and making remarks against the victims’ turbans, which finally led to physical assault of both Mr. Khalsa and Mr. Singh, with Mr. Khalsa receiving multiple fractures to the face and eye sockets. Details of the incident can be found at the following link:

https://www.unitedsikhs.org/rtt/sikhmanattackedqueens.htm

Present at the passing of the verdict were UNITED SIKHS Director Kuldip Singh and UNITED SIKHS Legal Consultant Tejinder Singh, along with 15 members of the assailants family, 10 members of the District Attorney’s Office and members of the press. While the verdict has been passed, the sentencing of the 5 assailants will be conducted on December 22, 2005. In lieu of this, Mr. Tejinder Singh remarked, “it is imperative that we come in force for the sentencing date of December 22, 2005 to tell the court that these men need to see jail time.” While the defendants in the trial have received a guilty verdict, the sentence can range anywhere from probation to jail time. Therefore, UNITED SIKHS urges the Sikh community to attend the December 22, 2005 sentencing hearing to make sure that those guilty of such horrific crimes against fellow Americans are sent a clear message: The Sikhs will not stand idly by and be terrorized.

The Assistant District Attorney George Fruggia will be coming to meet the Sikhs at the Flushing Sikh Center on Friday 9th December at 8:00pm to explain the judgment at the and that of The Sikh cultural society, Richmond Hill Gurdwara at 12:00pm and that of the

Makhan Shah Lobana Gurdwara Saheb, Richmond Hill at 1:00pm.

To read previous Press Releases on UNITED SIKHS civil and human rights advocacy click www.unitedsikhs.org/advocacy_issues.htm

Issued by:
Mejindarpal Kaur
Director, International Civil and Human Rights Advocacy
UNITED SIKHS
Tel: (0044) (0) 870 199 3328