The children of a New Jersey woman slain in a murder plot by their father are terrified of their grandparents, who are now caring for them. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
@WiL
After his mother’s murder in August, Riyan Parvaiz, 5, was asked by a cousin to play, and his response offered a chilling view into his new life: “If I leave my seat they will kill me the way they killed my mother,” lawyer Freda Khan recounted in Brooklyn Family Court.
The harrowing detail came to light during a hearing over custody of Riyan and his 2-year-old brother, Shayaan, who have been staying with their paternal grandparents since the killing of their mother, Nazish Noorani, 27.
Their father, Kashif Parvaiz, 26, was charged with hiring his mistress, Antoinette Stephen, 26, to kill her.
Parvaiz’s parents filed for permanent custody of the children, but the arrangement is being challenged by their mother’s parents, who live in Flatbush, Brooklyn, and hired Khan.
Noorani’s parents say they have seen the kids only once since their daughter’s murder and the children seemed “extra withdrawn and very fearful,” Khan said in court.
A judge is expected to make a decision in three weeks.
