NEWS

Prosecutor: Man walked wife to her 'execution' in Boonton

Peggy Wright
@PeggyWrightDR

Kashif Parvaiz lived a life of falsehoods and infidelity, and walked a wife he hated to her "execution" on a dark street in Boonton in 2011, a Morris County assistant prosecutor told a jury Wednesday in his opening statement at Parvaiz's murder trial.

John J. Bruno Jr., co-defense lawyer for Parvaiz, did not detail a strategy in his opening statement but cautioned the jury that Parvaiz, now 29, is not on trial for being a bad husband to shooting victim Nazish Noorani, 27, or a poor father to their two boys, who were 3 and 5 when their mother was slain on Cedar Street on Aug. 16, 2011.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I submit to you that when you hear cross-examination, the truth will come out," said Bruno, who is defending Parvaiz with attorney John Latoracca. As a prop, Bruno set a sculpture of the scales of justice on the witness stand and asked jurors not to be "hood-winked" into believing Parvaiz is guilty of murder just because he has character flaws.

SEE PHOTOS: Kashif Parvaiz murder trial begins in Morristown http://dailyre.co/1DGECSB

"Don't prejudge anyone based on the horrific story you heard today," Bruno said, referring to the opening statement in state Superior Court, Morristown, of Assistant Prosecutor Matthew Troiano.

Troiano's opening was a 25-minute preview of evidence that he said he will present with Assistant Prosecutor Erin Callahan over the next four weeks. Troiano told the jury of five men and nine women — two of whom will be picked as alternates when deliberations start — that Parvaiz plotted the killing of his wife with Antionette Stephen, a lover from Massachusetts. He said text messages between the pair outlined a scheme to end Noorani's life.

"Kashif Parvaiz hated his wife. Kashif Parvaiz hated his wife for years. Kashif Parvaiz was in multiple other relationships," Troiano said. "On Aug. 16, 2011, Kashif Parvaiz walked his wife to her death, up a dark street to her execution."

The six-year marriage between Parvaiz and Noorani was rocky, and she was living in New York City with his parents at the time of her death, while Parvaiz — allegedly pretending to be enrolled at Harvard University to get an advanced degree — was living in Massachusetts, where he met Stephen, now 29.

Parvaiz and Noorani were in Boonton on Aug. 16, 2011, with their two boys to celebrate the end of the Ramadan holiday with relatives. Shortly after 11 p.m. on a beautiful summer evening, Parvaiz and Noorani were strolling with one son in a baby carriage down Cedar Street when Noorani was gunned down with shots to her chest and side. Parvaiz was struck four times: in the hand, shoulder, left leg and buttocks.

Their son was splattered with blood but was not injured. His carriage was found resting against his mother's body, which prevented it from rolling backward down the steep-sloped Cedar Street. Parvaiz, who was found on the opposite side of the street, was screaming for help and initially claimed that three men had attacked him and his wife with guns, yelling (expletive) "terrorists!"

The shooting scene was staged, the goal of a plot that Parvaiz orchestrated to rid himself of his spouse, Troiano said. He emphasized that Antionette Stephen has pleaded guilty to the murder and to conspiring with Parvaiz to commit the double shooting and will testify against her ex-lover. While Parvaiz did not pull the trigger, he is charged with murder — along with seven other counts — as an accomplice to the crime, Troiano said.

"Kashif Parvaiz was willing to go to this extreme to have himself shot four times to achieve what he wanted most — the death of his wife, the extinction of Nazish Noorani," Troiano said.

The assistant prosecutors called five witnesses Wednesday, including Michael Becker and his wife, Jennifer, who both responded as Good Samaritans to the scene. Not yet married in 2011, the couple was watching television at Jennifer's home on Cornelia Street in Boonton around 11:15 p.m. on Aug. 16, 2011, when Michael Becker heard five gunshots and his then-fiancee heard what she believed were fireworks.

Michael Becker said he raced out of the house and followed the sound of screaming, which turned out to be Parvaiz. On Cedar Street, he said, he turned first to Parvaiz who handed him his cellphone and pointed to a shape across the street. Becker said he started to call 911 on Parvaiz's phone but put it down when he saw police cars arriving. He said he then went across the street, where he saw the body of a woman and the baby stroller.

"I remember the person's hand reaching up to me," Becker said of the dying woman. He said he found a pulse in her neck, and with the help of a Boonton officer, started CPR and other life-saving efforts.

Troiano called Jennifer Becker, who was emotional and struggled to hold back tears as she described rushing to the scene, mostly out of fear her fiance could be in danger. She said she first checked the toddler in the carriage. Though splattered with blood, he appeared unhurt and didn't want to be lifted out. She also identified for the jury a photograph of the boy that was taken afterward at a hospital.

"Same little boy. Same scared face," Jennifer Becker said.

She testified that she assisted the police officer, Boonton Patrolman Brian Walinski, and Michael Becker in trying to save the woman's life. Jennifer Becker said she put on gloves the officer brought and placed her hands over an obvious gunshot wound in the victim's chest from which air could be heard escaping. As others arrived, unsuccessful efforts were made to defibrillate Noorani on the street, she said.

Though aware of how to perform CPR and administer first aid, Jennifer Becker nearly cried on the stand as she said she had never been involved in such a traumatic life-saving attempt and didn't immediately understand why first responders stopped CPR and stepped back.

"It hadn't clicked to me she was gone," Becker said.

Walinski, who also said he tried to save the victim's life while others attended to her husband, told jurors that he had noticed a blue Toyota Camry with its headlights off drive past him on Main Street as he headed to the scene. After the initial chaos, Walinski said, he and a sergeant who had passed the same vehicle, checked surveillance videos from the scene.

Troiano said trial evidence will show that the car was occupied by Antionette Stephen, whose cellphone was used in Boonton on Aug. 15 and Aug. 16, 2011, before being used again on Aug. 17 in her home state of Massachusetts.

The trial is slated to continue Thursday before Superior Court Judge Robert Gilson. Among the state's witnesses will be the victim's brother, Kaleem Noorani, and sister Lubna Choudhry.

Staff Writer Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@njpressmedia.com