Marion Van Reeth, who lost her legs in the attack, sat before Saipov in her wheelchair, telling him: “I will never be able to walk like you can.”Īs Saipov listened to a translation of the proceedings through earphones, she said: “I have a question for you. “You, on the contrary, are a shame to your family and especially your kids,” she said. “Only a monster can do what you did,” said Vanesa Erlij Wittenberg, calling her deceased brother an “amazing person.” His head was drooped and eyes were lowered as 19 victims and relatives of the people killed in the terror attack spoke sometimes through tears, describing lingering pain and occasionally directly addressing him.įrank Decadt, father of victim Ann-Laure Decadt, told Saipov that he hoped that “one day you will understand the extent of horror you have inflicted on so many people.” When he finished, a female victim’s relative briefly stood, shouting: “The only act of the devil here is the act you did!”

In a rambling rant delivered through a translator, Saipov spent most of an hour talking about the creation of religions and how the devil was instrumental in the evolution of the human population. But, Saipov said, the tears and blood of followers of Islam killed unjustly worldwide would fill the courtroom. And that’s what the judge did.īroderick cited the defiance of Saipov, who, given a chance to speak, said the tears of victims and family members in the courtroom during the six months of the trial would fill a single tissue. They also wanted an extra 260 years to send a stern message to other like-minded terrorists. Broderick, as he announced a sentence designed to underscore the severity of the terrorist attack Sayfullo Saipov claimed he carried out on behalf of the Islamic State group.Ī life sentence was mandatory after a jury rejected the death penalty in March, but prosecutors had asked Broderick to impose eight consecutive life sentences and two concurrent life sentences. “The conduct in this case is among the worst, if not the worst I’ve ever seen,” said U.S. NEW YORK - An unrepentant and defiant Islamic extremist received 10 life sentences and another 260 years in prison on Wednesday for killing eight people with a truck on a bike path in Manhattan on Halloween in 2017, as a judge decried his “callous and cowardly” crimes.

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