Guyanese couple in Queens implicated in torture of housekeeper
Daisy Machuea, 54, reveals the bruises she said she obtained in the attack.
Queens, NY (New York Daily News) – A sadistic Guyanese couple and a family friend used a hand-held blowtorch to threaten a housekeeper they accused of stealing money and jewelry, cops and the victim said Thursday.
After eight hours of torture, the callous culprits made good on their promise, singeing Daisy Machuca’s eyebrows and burning both of her legs.
“I thought they would kill me,” Machuca, 54, told the Daily News.
She said the Feb. 13 attack happened shortly after she arrived to clean the home of Anbar and Devanand Lachman on 217th St. in Bayside, Queens.
Anbar Lachman, 31, left her 2-year-old child with her, she said, only to return 30 minutes later with her husband and his friend. Machuca said she was also beaten during the prolonged attack.
“When they put the fire on the leg and punched, I had a lot of pain,” said Machuca, who bore bruises around her eyes and cheeks and burns and welts covering both her legs.
She said they began demanding the money and jewelry. She said she told Devanand Lachman, 32, she didn’t steal from him and asked him to call the police to report the theft — but he was determined to use sinister tactics.
Machuca said the two men put a knife to her throat. She said the friend — who at about 6 feet she described as “the tall guy” — punched her in the head, chest and leg. While Devanand and the pal beat and tortured her, Machuca said, Anbar was just as menacing.
“She told me, ‘Give me my money!’ ” Machuca said. “I told her, ‘I don’t have the money. I don’t have the chain.’ I said, ‘I don’t have the money, but I have money at the apartment.’ ”
Machuca said Anbar watched as her husband and his friend burned her with the torch, then took her keys and went to her Port Washington, L.I., apartment.
When the wife returned empty-handed, the demented trio drove Machuca back to her apartment in Devanand’s GMC Acadia. She said during the drive, the men flanked her, each holding a knife against her sides.
She said they passed a cop car on the way and Anbar started to panic a little. “The lady was a little nervous when they saw the police,” Machuca said.
Machuca’s roommate, Oscar Ramirez, 60, was home when the suspects barged in holding a knife to Machuca’s back.
“The guy told me, ‘If you do something, the other guy kills her,’ ” Ramirez said.
After ransacking the apartment in a vain attempt to find the money and jewels, the suspects took Machuca’s cell phone and vowed to return in 24 hours to collect their property, Machuca and Ramirez said.
The trio warned they would kill Machuca if she didn’t fork over their belongings, the victim said.
But Machuca turned the tables on her torturers and called police, who arrested the Lachmans. The couple spent Valentine’s Day apart — in separate cells, officials said. Machuca was taken to a Port Washington area hospital for treatment of the burns to her face and leg, officials said.
Devanand Lachman was ordered held without bail at his arraignment in Queens Criminal Court on Feb. 15, officials said. His wife was ordered held on $50,000 bail on the same day.
Cops were still looking for the second man and have put together a sketch as they continue their search.
