Police caught him near the scene of the crime.
An Indian-origin man has been charged with murder for stabbing his wife to death after a street argument on Monday, according to a city public prosecutor.
50-year-old Prem Rampersaud, who was visiting New York from Guyana, is temporarily residing with a friend in Queens.
Rampersaud’s wife Rajwantie Baldeo, 46, works at a restaurant in the city. He met Baldeo around midnight on the streets in Queens and following an argument killed her by stabbing her several times.
She was taken to a hospital, where she was declared dead.
“This was an especially violent crime in which the defendant is accused of viciously taking the life of the woman he purportedly loved by repeatedly stabbing her following a heated verbal argument. If convicted, her brutal and senseless death merits serious punishment,” Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement.
Local ABC television quotes witnesses that Rampersaud choked her and tried to behead her with a long kitchen knife, leaving her head almost severed.
The attack was captured in a surveillance camera and police caught him near the scene of the crime.
According to DNAInfo, Rampersaud had given Baldeo $9,000 to go to the US about a year ago and was temporarily staying with his friend in South Jamaica, when he found out that his wife was dating someone she met online.
Rampersaud is being held pending arraignment in Queens Criminal Court on charges of second-degree murder and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
If convicted, he faces up to 25 years to life in prison.