Who is Naveen Pereira?
Naveen Pereira is a middle-aged man who works with Microsoft as a consultant. He is the fiance of Lauren Pazienza.
Lauren Pazienza, on the 10th of March 2022, shoved an 87-year-old woman named Barbara Gusten in downtown West 28th Street after the latter called her a b**ch. Barbara hit her head on the wall, received treatment afterwards but died five days later.
Pazienza was with her fiancee Naveen Pereira, a Microsoft consultant, on the night of the incident. Pereira told the prosecutors that they were getting ready for their wedding in nearby Chelsea Park. Pazienza had “several glasses of wine,” he said.
According to Assistant District Attorney Justin McNabney, Pazienza became enraged after drinking a few glasses of wine, and the couple was asked to leave because it was closing time. They even got into a fight before the incident occurred.
Lauren Pazienza’s 38-year-old neighbor described her as “a very angry person” who “really doesn’t process the fact that other people have feelings and consideration and doesn’t process the fact that there’s a world outside herself.” The neighbor also mentioned Pazienza and Pereira’s fights. “You can hear screams between her and her fiance,” he said. “You’d never hear the fiancee.” “You’d just hear her scream,” according to The New York Post.
Following the arrest reports, former Fashion Institute of Technology classmates told DailyMail that Pazienza was “abusive to her boyfriend [now fiancé Naveen Pereira] on multiple occasions.”
“She cheated on him on multiple occasions,” they added.
When I met him, he was reserved and very kind, and he seemed annoyed with her and afraid of her.” They went on to describe Pazienza as a “very manipulative person.”
What happened to Barbara Gustern?
Gustern, 26, was walking down West 28th Street on March 10 when Pazienza, 26, allegedly called her a “bitch” and shoved her to the sidewalk. Gustern died on March 15, a singer-turned-teacher whose clients included Debbie Harry and Broadway performers. Gustern was attacked without warning across the street from the Holy Apostles Church, where hundreds of mourners had gathered. A bell tolled 87 times to commemorate each year of Gustern’s life.
“Eight decades of incomparable integrity and love lost to a random act of senseless violence,” the service’s program read, noting Gustern was attacked “within window view of her Chelsea home,” according to The New York Post.
According to the Rev Anna Pearson, the church rector, Gustern recently discussed the challenges of a performing arts career and how she would feel negative if she wasn’t hired.
Lauren Pazienza Court Case
According to the prosecutor, when Lauren Pazienza learned of Gustern’s death, she fled New York to her parents’ home on Long Island, deleted her social media accounts, including her wedding website, stopped using her cellphone, and stashed it at her aunt’s. “Despite the extraordinary resources devoted to finding her, she successfully evaded capture for nearly two weeks,” McNabney said.
Pazienza was released on $500,000 bail after her arrest about two weeks after the attack, but she was returned to jail on May 10 after Justice Felicia Menin labeled her a “serious flight risk.” In April, the 26-year-old Long Island native rejected her first plea in response to an indictment charging her with first-degree manslaughter and two counts of second-degree assault in Gustern’s death.
I’m concerned that Ms. Pazienza is a flight risk – and is a serious flight risk,” Mennin said at the time. ”It appears that [the shove] was for a random reason. The victim in this case was apparently left lying on the sidewalk. The defendant walked away.” Mennin continued, ”She faces significant prison time if convicted. Although that may not seem a reality at this time, as the case proceeds, I have serious concerns it may affect her desire to return to court.”
Pazeienza’s lawyer, Arthur Aidala, fought to have the main manslaughter charge against his client dropped. On the other hand, Pazienza’s indictment was upheld by acting Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Felicia Mennin using evidence from the grand jury hearing minutes. Naturally, the judge’s decision has left us disappointed, Aidala told The Washington Post.
“We believe that pushing someone once without knowing their age or any disability meets the elements of manslaughter in the first degree.” We will continue to seek justice as best we can.” McNabney stated during the brief court hearing on Tuesday, July 19, that prosecutors are still awaiting Gustern’s final autopsy report.
Lauren Pazienza Naveen Pereira fiance rejects plea deal again
The 87-year-old voice coach who was allegedly pushed to death on a Manhattan street by a 26-year-old Long Island woman named Lauren Pazienza was offered a plea deal by the prosecution on Tuesday, July 19, 2022, but she turned it down and could now be sentenced to 15 years in prison. Pazienza showed up handcuffed in court on Tuesday, rejecting the plea bargain.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office allegedly twice made Pazienza an offer to accept a guilty plea to first-degree manslaughter in connection with the death of Barbara Maier Gustern on March 10 in exchange for the suggested sentence. According to the New York Post, she also failed to have her manslaughter charge dropped. She could spend up to 25 years behind bars.
In an unprovoked assault on Chelsea’s West 28th Street on March 10, Pazienza, a former event planner and heir to a Long Island cesspool empire, is accused of calling the elderly woman a “bitch” and pushing her to the ground. Gustern, a vocal trainer for artists like Blondie frontwoman and New York legend Debbie Harry, passed away on March 15 from her wounds five days later.
