NEW YORK — Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Suncha Tinevra, 70, has been charged with attempted assault and other crimes for allegedly poisoning her husband with an ant and roach killer on more than one occasion inside the couple’s Oakland Gardens home.
District Attorney Katz said, “Domestic violence is not limited to mental and physical abuse. The defendant in this case allegedly used deception to sicken her spouse. The victim did become sick, but thankfully did not die. The defendant now faces serious charges for her alleged actions.”
Tinevra, of 223rd Place, was arraigned on a complaint charging the defendant with attempted assault in the second degree, reckless endangerment in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree. Judge Gershuny ordered the defendant to return to court on March 10, 2021. If convicted, Tinevra faces up to 4 years in prison.
District Attorney Katz said that, according to the charges, on January 12, 2021, the defendant was observed on video surveillance squeezing a white powdery substance from a bottle with a red cap and yellow label. Tinerva retrieved the bottle from the cabinet under the sink and allegedly spiked her husband’s coffee on two or three occasions.
On January 14, 2021 at approximately 10:40 p.m., DA Katz added, detectives recovered a bottle with a red cap and yellow label from the spot under the sink. The label indicated that the contents was 100 percent boric acid and is used to kill ants and roaches.
“I’ve done this two or three times,” Tinevra told investigators, according to the The NY Post. “I don’t remember when — just when I’m angry.” — “I just wanted to teach him a lesson.”
The case is being prosecuted by the District Attorney’s Domestic Violence Bureau under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Kenneth Appelbaum, Acting Bureau Chief, and Audra Beerman, Deputy Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major
Crimes Daniel Saunders.
