(MENAFN- Live Mint) A man, who allegedly set a woman on fire on a New York subway train, told Police he "doesn't know what happened," NBC News reported. The suspect admitted to heavy drinking, authorities said Tuesday.
The man, identified as Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, was charged with murder in the death of a woman set on fire on a New York subway car. federal immigration officials said the 33-year-old Guatemalan citizen was in the US illegally and had been deported, federal officials were quoted by NBC news as saying.
He appeared before a Brooklyn judge and was formally told that he was accused of murder and arson in connection to the gruesome attack on Sunday.
The man allegedly set ablaze a woman, who still hasn't been identified. She was killed while asleep on a stationary F train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue Station. A video of the attack had gone viral this week. It showed the suspect watching the woman burn from outside of the train car.
The suspect allegedly set her on fire with a lighter, and once the victim became engulfed in flames, Zapeta-Calil continued "fanning the flames with a shirt,” a prosecutor was quoted as saying.
Zapeta then sat on a bench on the subway platform and watched, Assistant District Attorney Ari Rottenberg said.
Meanwhile, Zapeta-Calil later told police that“he drinks a lot of liquor" and "doesn't know what happened,” the prosecutor added. Zapeta, however, identified himself in images of the attack, Rottenberg said.
Zapeta-Calil he appeared to be wearing the same white Tyvek suit he had on when New York police officers first walked him out of a police station in front of waiting cameras.
He is charged with two counts of murder, accusing him of intentionally killing the woman and killing her while committing arson. He is also charged with one count of arson. The top charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole.
Zapeta, wearing a white jumpsuit over a weathered black hooded sweatshirt, will remain jailed at the city's Rikers Island complex and is due back in court on Friday. His lawyer did not ask for bail.
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