New Delhi: A Russian woman has been sentenced to 21 years in prison for attempting to murder her lookalike in an identity-theft plot in New York City.
Viktoria Nasyrova had attempted to kill her beautician, Olga Tsvyk, with a slice of poisoned cheesecake on August 28, 2016, before stealing her passport and work permit.
The prosecutor called her a "ruthless and calculating con artist".
“A ruthless and calculating con artist is going to prison for a long time for trying to murder her way to personal profit and gain. Thankfully, the victim survived the attack on her life and we were able to deliver justice to her," Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz in a statement on Wednesday, reported BBC.
It was told to the jury that, on the day of the incident, Nasyrova visited Tsvyk’s house in Queen with a box of cheesecake, eating two pieces herself, and offering the third, poisoned slice to the then-35-year-old victim. However, Nasyrova left her DNA on the cheesecake box.
The eyelash stylist started to vomit and went to lie down. She started having hallucinations and came very close to having a heart attack, BBC stated.
The next day, Tsvyk's friend found her unconscious, her clothes changed to lacey lingerie, and pills scattered around the floor as if she had tried to take her own life.
After she returned home, Tsvyk's Ukrainian passport and US work permit were missing, as well as jewellery and about $4,000 (£3,300) in cash.
Back then Nasyrova and Tsvyk looked quite similar with dark hair and the same skin complexion, and they were both Russian speakers.
A powerful Russian tranquilliser, Phenazepam, was detected in remnants of the cheesecake, and the pills strewn on the floor were confirmed to be the same drug, BBC reported.
In February 2023, Nasyrova was convicted of attempted murder, assault, and unlawful imprisonment.
As per the New York Post, Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder described Nasyrova on Wednesday as "an extremely dangerous woman" who had concocted a "diabolical" scheme to prey on a friend.
She will be further supervised by the court for five years after her release from prison, the judge ordered.
Tsvyk was allowed to speak in court before the sentence was read.
According to the New York Post, she said, “It was easy thing to gain the trust of another person and then take everything from that person.” “It was easy for her to steal. It was easy for her to kill.”
However, this isn’t the first time Nasyrova landed in trouble with the law.
According to BBC, earlier in 2015, Interpol issued a red notice for her arrest over the murder of a woman in Russia a year earlier. She is accused of killing her neighbour and stealing her life savings.
Nasyrova, is a former dominatrix, has also been accused of drugging and robbing men she met on dating websites.