Accused drunken driver breaks down after learning pregnant fiancé died in NYC wreck
Suspect Adem Nikeziq, 30, wept uncontrollably during his first appearance before a judge, after his lawyer broke the news that his seven-months-pregnant fiancee and unborn daughter were dead.
nypost.com
By
Kevin Sheehan and
Jorge Fitz-Gibbon
January 30, 2023 4:33pm
Updated
Adem Nikeziq, 30, wept in court after learning his fiance and unborn child were killed during his Staten Island SUV crash.
A pregnant Staten Island woman had her unborn baby ripped out and hurled 40 feet in a drunken-driving crash, officials said Monday — as her fiance, the driver, learned only minutes before court both had died.
Suspect Adem Nikeziq, 30, wept uncontrollably during his first appearance before a judge, after his lawyer broke the news that his seven-months-pregnant fiancee and unborn daughter were dead.
“No one told him that his fiancee and baby had passed,” Nikeziq’s lawyer, Mark Fonte, told The Post outside court. “He found out minutes ago, just before he came out [into the courtroom]. When I told him, he broke down crying, sobbing. He was at first completely in disbelief.”
Nikeziq, who was brought into court in a wheelchair and wearing a hospital gown, is charged with manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, vehicular assault and drunken driving in the deadly crash.
His fiancee, Adriana Sylmetaj, 23 — whose sister is an NYPD cop — was in the passenger seat when the couple’s speeding SUV struck a barrier and a utility pole early Saturday, with the vehicle splitting in half, prosecutors said in court.
“She was found at the intersection,” Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Agostino told Judge Raja Rajeswari. “Her severed leg was found 20 feet past her body. Her unborn child, ripped from her body, was found 20 feet past her leg.”
According to a criminal complaint filed in the case, Nikeziq told cops at the scene that another driver cut him off before the fatal collision.
“Not every horrific accident rises to the level of criminality,” Fonte said.
But prosecutors said Nikeziq was speeding and weaving through traffic on Hylan Boulevard around 4:45 a.m. when he lost control of the white 2021 Dodge Challenger and smashed it into a barrier.
“She was found at the intersection,” Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Agostino told Judge Raja Rajeswari. “Her severed leg was found 20 feet past her body. Her unborn child, ripped from her body, was found 20 feet past her leg.”
According to a criminal complaint filed in the case, Nikeziq told cops at the scene that another driver cut him off before the fatal collision.
“Not every horrific accident rises to the level of criminality,” Fonte said.
But prosecutors said Nikeziq was speeding and weaving through traffic on Hylan Boulevard around 4:45 a.m. when he lost control of the white 2021 Dodge Challenger and smashed it into a barrier.
