Sebastian Zapeta says he was drunk, doesn't remember setting subway victim on fire, prosecutors say
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NEW YORK — Sebastian Zapeta, the migrant accused of fatally setting homeless woman Debrina Kawam on fire on a Coney Island subway train, pleaded not guilty Tuesday — even as court papers revealed he said, “Oh, damn, that’s me,” when shown the horrific video of the attack that shocked the city.
Zapeta, a 33-year-old Guatemalan migrant living in a Brooklyn men’s shelter, was arraigned before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun on first-degree murder and arson charges. Chun ordered he remain held without bail until his next court appearance March 12.
Until recently, 57-year-old Kawam was listed as a “Jane Doe” on the indictment against Zapeta. Authorities identified her last week and Assistant District Attorney Matthew Perry on Tuesday had the document amended to include her name.
After Zapeta’s arrest, he told a trio of NYPD detectives — one of whom translated from Spanish — that he had no memory of what he’d done and that he often drank so much he would “erase the memory” of what happened and wake up at home.
The detectives confronted him with the video, with one telling him, “The best thing for us here, we want to know why you went to that woman in front of you and set fire to her. Why did you do it?”
“To tell you the truth, to be honest, I don’t remember,” Zapeta replied.
When the detectives showed Zapeta video of himself as he lit Kawam ablaze, he responded with surprise, according to court documents.
“Who is that person?” the Spanish-speaking detective asks, and Zapeta responds, “Oh, damn, that’s me.”
“That’s you, right?,” the cop continues, and Zapeta responds, “Yes.”
“Do you see what’s happening now? Do you see what you’re doing? You are setting that woman on fire. Do you remember that or not?” the detective asks.
“No, I really don’t remember,” Zapeta responds.
“But that’s you, right?” the detective asks.
“Yes,” Zapeta replies, according to the court documents.
Zapeta approached Kawam as she slept in an F train stopped at the end of the line at Coney Island-Stillwell Ave. station at about 7:30 a.m. Dec. 22, according to cops. They appeared to be strangers, police said.
He said nothing to her as he set her clothing ablaze with a lighter, then fanned the fire with a shirt as the flames engulfed her, according to prosecutors.
Chilling video shows Zapeta sitting on a bench on the train platform as Kawam burned to death as she stood helplessly near the subway car’s open door.
Surveillance video later recovered by cops shows Zapeta inside the subway car and a police officer’s body cam got a clear shot of his face, cops said. The NYPD quickly released images of the suspect to the media and a trio of high schoolers spotted him on another train later in the day and called 911, the commissioner said.
Zapeta was arrested by Customs and Border Patrol in Arizona on June 2, 2018, sources said, then removed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials and returned to Guatemala. But he made his way back to the U.S. sometime after.
Zapeta told the detectives he came back to the U.S. illegally about five years ago, arriving in Queens with his wife’s nephew. Relatives took him in but that living situation fell apart during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I stayed with them, but in the pandemic, they threw me out because of my brother-in-law. Okay, after the pandemic I went out to work and my brother-in-law called them and told him that… my brother-in-law was working with us, and he said that all the guys that worked there were infected with coronavirus,”
Up until his arrest, he was doing construction work in Queens, meeting his employer. who he refers to as “the Mexican,” outside the boss’ house in Jamaica before a job.
He finished work the day before the attack about 5:30 p.m., then went to a bar in Jamaica to buy beer and get drunk, he told detectives.
His lawyer, Andrew Friedman, once again reserved the right to apply for bail at a later date.
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