The distraught father of slain Chinatown creative producer Christina Yuna Lee broke down in court Tuesday — asking God “why” his beloved daughter was so brutally butchered and vowing he will never forgive the cold-blooded killer for his “evil acts.”
Sungkon Lee, whose 35-year-old daughter was followed home by sicko Assamad Nash and stabbed more than 40 times in her own kitchen, fought back tears during the convicted murderer’s sentencing hearing in Manhattan Supreme Court.
“Why did the murderer single out Christina, someone unknown to him, and perpetuate such a horrendous crime?” the devastated dad said. “Why did the murderer brutally kill her by stabbing her more than 40 times? My family cannot forgive these evil acts.”
The father’s powerful speech came as Nash, 27, was sentenced to 30-years-to-life in prison by Judge Laura Ward after pleading guilty to the Feb. 13, 2022 killing last month.
The soft-spoken Sungkon straight ahead as he read a poem he wrote for his daughter, the last line of which went: “It’s daylight in full swing outside/but I have nowhere to go.”
He said that Christina’s family remains lost without her, and that no sentence — not even the maximum — would mend his broken heart.
“The gravity of today’s sentencing will not bring back Christina, who died so unjustly, and her family will continue to live in unbearable pain” he told the court.
The pain is so tough that Christina’s mother couldn’t bring herself to attend Nash’s sentencing, the victim’s aunt, Boksun Lee, said through a Korean interpreter, revealing the heartbroken woman has been overcome with depression since her daughter’s murder.
“No matter what kind of sentencing the perpetrator will get, I will mean nothing to me,” Boksun told the court, shortly before bursting into tears in the hallway while speaking with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
The emotional sentencing didn’t seem to have any effect on the Nash, who didn’t bat an eye toward any family or the more than 70 supporters who packed the courtroom.
When the judge gave him the chance to speak, Nash chose to shake his head no.
Nash, who was homeless at the time of the slaying with a history of past arrests for robberies and petit crimes, was caught on surveillance footage trailing the Rutgers University graduate up six flights of stairs when she came home to her Chrystie Street building at 4:20 a.m., prosecutors said.
As she opened her apartment door, he rushed up behind her and pushed her inside — where she desperately tried defending herself against the lowlife by grabbing a knife, prosecutors said.
Lee slashed Nash in the torso and shoulder before she retreated to the bathroom, crying out to neighbors for help.
That’s when the creep took the knife and “butchered her, stabbing and cutting her over 40 times,” Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Dafna Yorna told the court.
The young woman was stabbed in the head, neck and torso, with her killer leaving her bloodied body was left in the bathtub before he tried escaping the apartment through the fire escape.
He was eventually found hiding underneath Christina’s bed where he tried to play dumb with cops by saying statements like “nothing’s wrong here [and] everyone’s okay,” prosecutors said — adding that Nash “made up a tale” to try to get away with the murder.
Prosecutors labeled Nash a violent “anti-social” sex fiend who continues to be a predator toward women.
“There are no medications that can be given to him to temper him or protect him from people,” Yorna said, citing disturbing jail medical records detailing Nash’s “tendency to be sexually assaultive with females.”
Nash — who pleaded guilty June 18 to second-degree murder and first-degree burglary as a sexually motivated felony — claimed after his arrest that he was “too high” on a dust and K2 cocktail to remember the moments leading up to the killing.
His sentencing came nearly two years after he insisted he was innocent in an interview with The Post, bragging that he didn’t think prosecutors had enough evidence to put him behind bars.
Outside court, Sungkon criticized the state laws for letting Nash out on supervised release in a criminal mischief case about a month before he brutally murdered his daughter.
“Due to this law, various crimes were committed at the time. A criminal who should be in prison was instead wandering around the city and committing other crimes,” Sungkon said. “This is what happened in this case. Christina was brutally and viciously murdered by the murderer who should have been in jail.”
The murder of Lee, who was of Korean-American descent, sparked community leaders to demand action from the city when attacks against Asian American Pacific Islander New Yorkers skyrocketed in 2022.
Bragg said in a statement that he hoped the sentencing would provide closure to the family.
“Ms. Yuna Lee was a creative, kind and joyful person and her death not only devastated her family but left a lasting impact on an entire community,” Bragg said. “I hope the resolution of this case offers comfort and a sense of justice for everyone that has been touched by Ms. Yuna Lee’s life and this tragedy. May her legacy be celebrated for years to come.”
