Fahim Saleh murder: Suspect Tyrese pleads ‘not guilty’

Prime suspect in the killing of Pathao co-founder Fahim Saleh, his executive assistant Tyrese Haspil, has pleaded "not guilty" to second-degree murder, reports CNN.

Haspil (21), a native New Yorker, had no prior contact with the criminal justice system before his alleged involvement in the brutal murder, said his attorneys on Sunday, according to the CNN report.

"We are in the very earliest stages of ferreting out the truth. The life of this case promises to be long and complex. As for the attorneys of Mr Haspil, we urge the public to keep an open mind," Sam Roberts and Neville Mitchell, Legal Aid Society attorneys with the Homicide Defense Task Force, said in a statement.

Haspil is charged with the killing of Fahim Saleh (33), also the CEO of Gokada, a motorbike ride-hailing company that launched in Nigeria in 2018.

The young tech entrepreneur was found dead and dismembered in his Lower East Side apartment on Tuesday, July 14, police said.

Haspil, who used to handle Saleh's finances and personal matters, allegedly assaulted him with a Taser before killing him and dismembering his body, the law enforcers said.

A law enforcement official said Haspil owed Saleh tens of thousands of dollars and was on a repayment plan, reports CNN.

Saleh's cousin found that his head, arms and legs had been severed in the living room of the condo, NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison said.

A male, identified as Haspil, was seen in the surveillance video following Saleh up the elevator into his apartment on Monday and shooting him with a Taser, according to the complaint.

Haspil was also seen in separate surveillance video the next day, and is thought to have gone to a hardware store to purchase cleaning supplies and an electric saw, items which were recovered from the crime scene, according to the complaint.

Saleh was stabbed five times in his neck and torso, had multiple incise wounds to his arms and left hand and a contusion to his left forehead, the complaint added, citing the medical examiner.

The District Attorney's office informed that Haspil's next court date is scheduled for August.