News
Police arrest suspected killer of Gokada CEO, charge him for murder
BY NICHOLAS ABE
The personal assistant of Gokada founder and CEO, Fahim Saleh, who was found decapitated and dismembered in his Manhattan flat has been arrested.
Saleh, 33, was discovered in his $2 million (about N940 million) apartment on Tuesday, in a grisly killing that shocked the city and made international headlines.
Tyrese Devon Haspil, 21, was arrested on Friday and expected to be charged with second-degree murder.
Detectives believe Mr Saleh had discovered that the assistant had stolen tens of thousands of dollars from the company.
“Mr Haspil was Mr Saleh’s executive assistant and handled his finances and personal matters. It is also believed that he owed the victim a significant amount of money,” Rodney Harrison, the New York Police Department’s top detective, told reporters. Unnamed officials told the New York Times the amount was around $90,000.
A police official told the Times that it appeared as though Mr Saleh knew about the alleged theft and had set up what appeared to be a repayment plan.
Tyrese Devon Haspil
The Saudi-born Bangladeshi entrepreneur’s body was discovered by his sister, who appears to have interrupted the murderer as he was cleaning up.
She had gone to check on Mr Saleh after not hearing from him for a day.
READ: How ‘Gokada’ founder Saleh was brutally murdered in US
She found his body had been decapitated and dismembered, the parts placed into separate plastic bin bags. A power saw and cleaning supplies were found plugged in nearby.
A New York City medical examiner’s report released on Thursday found that he died of multiple stab wounds to the neck and torso.
It is thought the killing took place on Monday and that the suspect returned to the flat on Tuesday to dismember the body.
Security camera video showed Mr Saleh in the apartment building’s lift with a man in a dark suit, mask and gloves. Video footage showed the suspect following Mr Saleh into the seventh-storey building, where a struggle began.
He used a Taser to immobilise Mr Saleh and then stabbed him to death.
Police were reported to have tracked the Taser purchase back to Mr Haspil, who had allegedly used his own credit card and signed for the package when it arrived in June.
Mr Saleh, who grew up in New York after moving from Saudi, founded a ride company called Pathao in 2015 and in 2018 the Gokada motorbike hailing app.
Gokada was widely used in the Nigerian megacity of Lagos until state officials in February banned motorcycle taxis, known locally as “okada,” which dealt a serious blow to the company.