A Bronx bride was left at the altar, but it wasn’t the groom who stood her up — it was the court clerk, who refused to marry the couple because she claimed to be tired and hungry.
In a scene reminiscent of a scandal that erupted a year ago in the Marriage Bureau at Bronx Supreme Court, 23-year-old Gwendolyne Ortiz stood in her white dress as she used a brown paper bathroom towel to wipe away tears.
“(The clerk’s) upset with the staffing. She refuses to do any more (ceremonies),” the bride said, choking back tears.
Her groom, Harold Poueriet, 22, all decked out in a white Armani shirt with gray pinstripes, said, “(The clerk) says she’s tired and she’s hungry.”
But Ortiz’s wedding day was saved when a lawyer, court officers and a judge stepped in for the weak and weary clerk and performed the ceremony Friday.
Appalled at seeing the crying, four-months-pregnant bride, lawyer Maxine Susseles, Maj. Raymond Diaz, Sgt. Tamara Glover and others came to the rescue.
“You know what they say, ‘You cry once on your wedding day, that’s 1,000 tears you won’t cry during your marriage,’ ” Glover told the bride.
Lifedome Cinema Ministries On ‘Life Support’ To Lose Church
A Bronx congregation and a real estate company are locked in a legal battle over ownership of the church building.
The church claims a real estate company grabbed the building away from it, but the company claims the church is trying to avoid paying owed rent.
The battle is being waged in Bronx Supreme Court, where Lifedome Cinema Ministries is suing Mohamad Saad and his Barack Real Estate Corp., which provided financial help when the church was on the verge of being evicted.
Attorney Joe Altman, who represents Saad, said the church is trying to avoid paying the $156,000 it owes in back rent.
According to the lawsuit, the church faced eviction from its building at 3942-3950 White Plains Road and invited Saad and his company to invest in the building, which includes retail stores, to save the church.
“My client has been very patient,” Altman said. “The church has been there a long time and didn’t pay their rent.
“The property was foreclosed and the church entered into an agreement to pay rent to my client, but they haven’t paid anything.”
Bishop Alexander Kissi said the company has reneged on the deal.
“We got stabbed in the back,” he said. “We have a commitment on the table to buy back the property, but they want to throw the church out of our own building.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Saad was slated to hold the title on the property for one year to give the church more time to save money to buy it back.
Saad also agreed to allow the church to continue to sublet space to the existing stores and pay $20,000 a month in rent.
The church claims in the suit that it had relied on a promise from Saad to renovate and enlarge the stores to attract more retail to the property but that after the deal was in place he refused to comply.
“Lifedome needed financial help and thought they found it,” said Lifedome’s attorney, Surajudeen Agbaje. “The new owners reneged on the deal and the church is trying to compel them to honor the agreement, but they refuse.”
Church officials said they owned the church building for more than seven years and held church services and missionary activities in the building for more than 13 years before they ran into financial troubles.
A masked robber suspected in a string of Bronx bodega raids was ordered held on $50,000 bail Wednesday in Bronx Supreme Court.
Roy Mekle, 30, was charged with first-degree robbery and grand larceny in 13 holdups.
Law enforcement officials said Mekle’s standard stickup outfit included a white dust mask or orange bandana and gray South Pole jacket during a robbery spree between Nov. 6 and last Thursday, when he was arrested.
The first store Mekle allegedly robbed was at 3401 Olinville Ave., and the others were scattered throughout the Bronx, including another store on Olinville Ave., two stores on E. 241st St. and another on Mundy Lane.
Ramesh Dass, who worked in the store at 3401 Olinville Ave., told authorities he was standing behind the counter when Mekle and an accomplice entered.
Dass said Mekle, who was holding a plastic bag, walked up to him and pointed a black gun at him, telling Dass, “Give me all your money and cigarettes.”
Dass handed over the money and the two men left the store. The second man has not been apprehended.
Arraigned two days after his arrest, Mekle was back in court yesterday before Bronx state Supreme Court Justice John Byrne, who set bail at $50,000 after Mekle pleaded innocent to the charges.
If convicted, Mekle faces up to 25 years in prison on each robbery charge.
Several bodega employees showed up at Bronx Supreme Court Wednesday for Mekle’s arraignment.
Each told authorities Mekle entered their store holding a plastic bag and demanding money at gunpoint. Dass was the only worker who said Mekle had an accomplice; the others said he acted alone.
Sgt. Kristen McKee had patch of hair ripped from her scalp by KeKe Cufee in 2006 attack.
Cufee faces up to seven years in prison.
Bronx Woman Convicted of Assaulting NYPD Arrested For Witness Tampering
A pregnant Bronx woman convicted of assaulting an NYPD sergeant and yanking a giant patch of hair from the cop’s scalp was supposed to be sentenced Tuesday.
Instead she was arrested, handcuffed and carted off to jail for tampering with witnesses, prosecutors said.
KeKe Cufee, 25, was rearrested in the hallway of Bronx Supreme Court. Her lawyer, Laura Pitter, said she did not know why her client was arrested.
Pitter appeared stunned when Bronx Assistant District Attorney Nicole Garretson asked Supreme Court Justice Margaret Clancy to postpone the sentencing.
Abusive boyfriend charged with dismembering Bronx mother of two
The family of a Bronx mom whose body parts washed up along a creek near her home two years ago say they want her longtime abusive boyfriend to pay for the brutal death of beautiful Rawayti (Nita) Haimraj.
Joshua Nowrang, 44, stands charged with second-degree murder in the beating, strangulation and dismemberment of Haimraj, the 35-year-old mother of his son and daughter.
Pretrial hearings are scheduled to begin today in Bronx Supreme Court to decide if statements he made to police will be admitted into evidence. The hearing will focus on his whereabouts the night of the July 6, 2005, murder.
“We will be at every court hearing to make sure we get justice for my little sister,” said Harry Parasram. “Our family is still in shock over her gruesome murder. He shaved her head and cut it off, along with her legs and arms. Joshua cut my sister up like a chicken.”
Defense attorney Michael Leavitt said his client doesn’t know what happened to his longtime girlfriend, whom he met in their native Guyana two decades ago.
The prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Dan McCarthy, declined comment.
But the prosecution is expected to charge that Nowtang killed Haimraj and disposed of her body in Pugsley Creek near their Castle Hill home. According to published reports and Haimraj’s relatives, she was a victim of domestic violence.
“We kept telling her to leave,” said Parasram. “He was a bully and nobody liked him, but Nita didn’t want us to get involved.”
But when Haimraj didn’t answer her phone on July 6, 2005, her eight siblings went to her home. Nowtang told police that Haimraj wasn’t there when he returned from fishing in Pugsley Creek. When the siblings heard about it, they ran to the creek.
“Nothing could have prepared my sisters for what they found down there,” said Parasram. “They screamed and screamed when they found her head first and all her beautiful hair had been shaven off. Then they found her arms and her foot.
“One of my sisters was with Nita when she got a manicure and pedicure for the Fourth of July and she recognized the polish,” he said. “That’s how we knew it was really her.”
Other body parts washed up in Queens. The city medical examiner said the cause of death was neck compression and blunt impact injuries.
“My sister died a terrible death,” said Parasram. “I want him to pay for what he did to my sister. Nobody deserves this. Her children don’t have their mother and our family is still grieving.”
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