Nazish Noorani was gunned down in New Jersey.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: The sordid case of Antionette Stephen drew to a sullen close on Friday when the Indian American woman was sentenced to 30 years in prison for hatching a plan with her lover to shoot his wife and then executing it to fatal effect back in 2011.
“I know my soul is condemned to hell,” said Stephen, 30, as she faced the family of her victim, Nazish Noorani, with tears cascading down her cheeks.
The 27-year-old victim’s husband Kashif Parvaiz, a Pakistani American like his wife, was shot in the leg and shoulder, but it was later revealed that he was the mastermind behind the deadly shooting.
According to the Daily Record, Stephen said she learned Parvaiz had lied about every aspects of his life only after she agreed to slaughter his wife in New Jersey:
Born in India, Stephen was in the United States legally with a green card and was living with her parents in Billerica, Mass. when she met Parvaiz at the Boston Architectural College in January 2010. She said he persuaded her over time that he was a loving father to his two boys, 5 and 2, and needed to save them from their mother. He also pretended that his youngest boy was not biologically his son but the child of a relationship between Noorani and another man.
Stephen served as the primary witness against Parvaiz during his murder trial in Morris County in February. He was convicted of murder, conspiracy, child endangerment, hindering apprehension, among other offenses, and was sentenced on May 21 to life in prison. Unlike Stephen, Parvaiz never apologized or gave a statement at sentencing and continues to maintain his innocence.
Stephen testified that she and Parvaiz developed a ruthless plot under which she would fatally shoot Noorani and wound Parvaiz to make the attack appear to be a random robbery. Parvaiz, who Stephen wounded with four non-life-threatening gunshots, lied that three gunmen assailed him and his wife with the while yelling: “[Expletive] terrorists,” to make it appear as if he was the victim of a race-fuelled hate crime.
Stephen shot the couple as they walked down Cedar Street in Boonton, New Jersey, at 11:15 p.m. on August 16, 2011. They had their 2-year-old boy with them in a stroller, but the child was not struck by any gunfire.
The Daily Mail reported Noorani and their two sons were only in Boonton briefly to breakfast during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Noorani and the boys were living with Parvaiz’s parents in Brooklyn, New York, while Parvaiz, masquerading as a Harvard University student, lived in Boston and juggled three girlfriends, which included Stephen.
Stephen met Parvaiz while the two were students at Boston Architectural College. They started as friends, and the relationship became romantic, according to NJ.com. Parvaiz falsely told her he was separated from his wife and also accused his wife of not taking their older son to doctors for treatment of his sickle cell anemia.
In the end, Stephen decided to participate in the murder plot because Parvaiz told her,”‘My son is going to die.’ She thought she was saving the life of a child and she was killing this monster,” stated public defender Dolores Mann.
Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Matthew Troiano said “much, if not all” of what Mann said “was likely accurate,” but added it did nothing to excuse Stephen’s reprehensible actions.
“She chose a path that led her to Boonton to commit the worst crime I ever hope to see,” Troiano said. “At the end of the day, Ms. Stephen made a choice to drive hundreds of miles from Massachusetts to commit a horrible crime. She is far from a victim. There is no excuse for what she did.”
It is likely Stephen will be deported at the end of her sentence, revealed CBS New York.
1 Comment
Sooooooo funny