A man who fatally stabbed his brother-in-law in the victim’s Yonkers apartment likely also plunged the knife into his own chest to bolster his claim of self-defense, a prosecutor alleged as the man’s murder trial opened.
“Either way, you will know, self-inflicted or not, that at the moment the defendant plunged his knife into Bernard Barua’s chest, Bernard, in bed, in his underwear, tucked in, soccer game on, was not a threat,” Assistant District Attorney Brianna Ciuffi said Tuesday, May 19, in her opening statement at the trial of John Singh. “He was unarmed and defenseless.”
But the defense countered that the evidence will show it was just as likely that Singh was stabbed first by Barua and that the lack of any eyewitness account of what went on would provide jurors ample reasonable doubt with which to acquit Singh.
“They’re going to rely on the evidence they are presenting and take a guess of what happened inside that Bronx River Road apartment,” defense lawyer Richard Ferrante said in his opening.
Singh, 55, is charged with second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter in the trial before Westchester Judge Maurice Dean Williams.
Police responded to the apartment at 760 Bronx River Road in the early afternoon of Nov. 16, 2024, after Singh called 911. Barua, 78, was bleeding heavily and unresponsive in his bed and police officers kept Singh in the hallway outside the apartment until he was taken to Westchester Medical Center for treatment of his own chest wound.
When the officers asked Singh how long Barua had been in that condition he told them 45 minutes – a response Ciuffi called a “slip up” because it showed he waited before calling 911.
“Bernard Barua was left bleeding out in his bed, without help, for 45 minutes. He never had a chance,” Ciuffi said. “And the evidence will show this was by the defendant’s design.”
Barua was taken to Lawrence Hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
Ciuffi said Barua was killed with a single, 4-inch stab wound to the chest that pierced his aorta.
Jurors heard from Aleyda Rivas, the Yonkers dispatcher who took the 911 call. In it, Singh told her he had been stabbed by his brother in law, adding in what Ciuffi called an “afterthought” that Barua had also been stabbed.
When Rivas asked him if he had stabbed Barua, Singh hesitated before saying simply ‘Yup’.
“This is not the call of someone in panic, in fear for his life, who’s just been in a violent struggle,” Ciuffi said in her opening. “It is the call of someone calm, measured and careful with his words.”
She said Barua had “plenty of time, to think, to plan to figure a way out of this” before he washed up and called 911.
Singh told Rivas he and Barua had argued about “basic stuff” and Barua “got outrageous and that was it.”
One bloody Smith & Wesson 4-inch knife was recovered on a snack table near Singh’s cellphones and laptop. It had blood from both men on it.
Ciuffi said DNA testing found that all the blood in the bedroom was Barua’s and the only places Singh’s DNA was found were the sink, the knife and Singh’s shirt.
Ciuffi said that Singh stabbed Barua in response to their argument, not to any violence by Barua.
While she called Singh’s injury a “shallow” stab wound, Ferrante said his client was seriously injured and required surgery for a stab wound that penetrated his heart.
He assailed the decision to handcuff and arrest Singh before any investigation had begun and told jurors the prosecution would not be able to meet its burden of proving Singh had intentionally killed his brother-in-law.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Murder trial begins for man who stabbed brother-in-law in Yonkers
Reporting by Jonathan Bandler, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
