By Michelle Han
A South Ozone Park man was sentenced last week to eight years in jail for the 1998 beating of an Indo-Caribbean man from Richmond Hill that was called a racially motivated crime.
During an emotional sentencing before State Supreme Court Judge Mark H. Spires Friday, Nuno Martins, who was convicted of assault and aggravated harassment by a jury in May, turned and spoke directly to his victim, 22-year-old Rishi Maharaj, for the first time since the attack.
In a quiet voice, Martins told Maharaj and his relatives and his own family and friends he was sorry for his actions that fateful night more than two years ago, saying he was a young 19-year-old then who had had too much to drink.
