Family & Friends Pack Courtroom In Support Of Kensington Teen Charged With Stabbing Abusive Father To Death
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Family members and friends of Hassan Razzaq, a 19-year-old neighbor charged with stabbing his father, Mohammad Razzaq, to death in their home on E. 3rd Street last weekend, packed a Brooklyn Supreme Court room today in support of the teenager, who his attorney said killed his father to put an end to the elder Razzaq’s abuse.
During a court hearing this morning, Hassan’s defense attorney, Michael Cibella, said Mohammad Razzaq had returned home more than a month early from a failed business trip to Pakistan and took out his anger on his children, the Daily News and the New York Post reported.
The Post wrote:
“The father came home unexpectedly,” said Cibella. “The minute he came through the door, he started assaulting my client and his sister. That’s how he says, ‘I’m back from Pakistan.’”
The 56-year-old brute allegedly pulled the girl by her hair and dragged her across the floor while telling her, “Do you want boys to have sex with you?” because she was wearing shorts he didn’t approve of, Cibella said.
The family had, for years, suffered at the hands of the father, neighbors said.
The Daily News reported today:
He once threatened his 20-year-old daughter and said, “I can cut you up your body, put you in a suitcase and dump you somewhere no one could find you.”
Last weekend, the News reported:
Hassan told investigators that he and his sisters were tired of the physical abuse that their father subjected them to, police sources said.
“There’s always abuses. There’s always cops there,” [a neighbor] said of the Razzaq home, where Hassan, his … siblings and parents have lived for about eight years. “The kid’s a good kid. He was getting beat every night.”
A prosecutor told the Post that “Hassan had recently learned that one of his sisters had been molested by his dad for years.”
Cibella told the court that “we believe [Hassan] was justified in this case … we hope the district attorney looks at this case the same way,” the Post wrote.
Dozens of supporters echoed this sentiment, showing up to today’s hearing wearing shirts emblazoned with the phrase “#FreeHassanRazzaq.”
The case was adjourned until next Friday, when Hassan’s attorney hopes the judge will grant his client bail, as well as reduce the charges, according to the Daily News.