Suspect's Fiancee Testifies for Defense

Mar 29, 07:36 AM

Current Headlines: By Tom Mcginty, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.

Mar. 29--Sherry Nohar didn't have a typical reaction after Suffolk police detectives showed her surveillance video of what they said was her fiance hiring undercover police officers to kill her.

"When I saw the video, I was actually laughing because I know his character and that's not him acting like that," Nohar testified, adding that she was surprised at how much he cursed in the video.

In fact, during much of her 2 1/2 hours of testimony yesterday on behalf of her fiance, New York City police recruit Kabeer Din, Nohar, 24, had nothing but nice things to say about the man on trial in Suffolk County Court on charges of conspiring to murder her.

Called as the first witness for Din's defense, Nohar frequently darted her eyes to catch glimpses of Din sitting at the defense table. Wearing a thin smile and sometimes giggling slightly as she answered questions, she described Din, 22, as "peaceful, caring and loving," and said he had never threatened or hit her.

She said they met in 2003, when they were assigned to be partners at an art class at Kingsborough Community College.

"We're still boyfriend and girlfriend, but I'm not allowed to see him ... because I have an order of protection [by the court] that I had asked to be vacated," she said.

She later admitted that she had met with and talked to him many times after he was released on bail, which her family helped post, but stopped when Judge James Hudson asked her to honor the order.

Nohar's smile withered under cross-examination by Assistant District Attorney Jeremy Scileppi, who used her prior statements to investigators to paint a more troubled picture of their relationship.

She reluctantly said she had told investigators that Din "was possessive and wanted to spend all of his spare time with" her and that they weren't talking at the time that police say he was arranging the hit.

In the signed statement he gave police, Din said he decided to kill Nohar because he was angry he hadn't been invited to the wedding of one of her relatives, according to testimony. After initially insisting that he had been invited, Nohar told Scileppi they had a "small misunderstanding" about it.

Nohar, who lives in Brooklyn, testified that she had never met any of Din's family before his arrest or been to his house in Holtsville.

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Copyright (c) 2007, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.

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