Police Briefs 06-15-2017

NO BAIL IN FATAL BEATING

A Chelsea man will continue to be held without bail in the beating death of 32-year-old Melvin Cortes earlier this year, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

Kamaya Farikafi, 23, of Chelsea, was arraigned Wednesday in Suffolk Superior Court on a charge of second-degree murder in connection with the Feb. 5 assault in Chelsea that claimed Cortes’ life nearly a week later.  At the request of Assistant District Attorney Lynn Feigenbaum of the DA’s Senior Trial Team, Clerk Magistrate Lisa Medeiros ordered Farikafi held without bail.

Farikafi has remained in custody since his Feb. 23 arraignment in Chelsea District Court.

Feigenbaum told the court that on the morning of Feb. 5, Farikafi and Cortes became involved in a verbal altercation with a man known to Farikafi. At the time, Farikafi had a metal baseball bat visible under his distinctive camouflage jacket.

During the course of the argument, Cortes produced a screwdriver from his pocket. Farikafi then struck Cortes in the head with the bat and continued to hit him after he was on the ground.

Cortes was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he remained until his death Feb. 11.

After the fatal encounter, Farikafi disposed of the bat in a nearby dumpster and abandoned the distinctive jacket in an alleyway. Those items were recovered by Chelsea Police detectives and State Police detectives assigned to Conley’s office, who also recovered surveillance imagery and interviewed witnesses during the course of an investigation that identified Farikafi as the alleged assailant.

On Feb. 6, Farikafi traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was apprehended Feb. 15 with the assistance of the State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section and US Marshals.

Jennifer Sears is the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate. Farikafi was represented by attorney Bernard Grossberg.  He returns to court July 27.

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