Husband pleads guilty to Marine Avenue murder

A Bay Ridge man has pled guilty to murdering his wife because he thought she had been unfaithful to him, according to reports.

Hasan “Sammy” Rugova admitted before a judge on Monday, November 30 that he fatally stabbed his wife, Gyltene Rugova, inside of their Marine Avenue home on May 20, 2014, just hours before she was to open a neighborhood pizzeria in his name.

BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP/file photo
BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP/file photo

As this paper previously reported, authorities were called to the six-story building at Marine Avenue and 95th Street at 2:21 a.m. Upon arrival, police discovered 46-year-old Gyltene Rugova—nicknamed Julia—with a stab wound to the neck.

Emergency Medical Services pronounced Rugova dead on arrival and transferred two males—Rugova’s 14-year-old son, Ibrahim, who sustained a slash wound to the right forearm when trying to restrain his father, and the defendant, who  eventually turned the knife on himself in a suspected murder-suicide attempt—to Lutheran Medical Center (now NYU Lutheran).

According to the investigation, the stabbing occurred after the victim indicated that she wanted a divorce.

“She helped everybody here; everybody loved her,” said family friend Mimoza Ggikolmi the morning of the slaughter. “She was just a very nice woman.”

“This defendant senselessly killed his wife – the mother of his four children – who are now left with no parents to care for them as he will be spending many years in prison,” said District Attorney Ken Thompson.

In exchange for the guilty plea, Rugova’s charge was downgraded from Second Degree Murder to First Degree Manslaughter. The deal also included 30-year orders of protection for the pair’s four children.

Rugova will serve 18 years in prison, followed by five years of post-release supervision.

The family lived at 101 Marine Avenue.

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