FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM DECEMBER 7, 2017 • THE QUEENS COURIER 29
Queens leaders see hope in Trump’s Jerusalem recognition
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
A Bayside-based rabbi and one Queens
Congressman are both looking at
President Trump’s move on Dec. 6 to recognize
Woman arrested for burglarizing Astoria home of senior citizen
Family of Queens woman murdered in the
Caribbean now raising funds to pay her funeral
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
edavenport@qns.com / @QNS
A Hollis woman was brutally murdered
on the island of Jamaica earlier
this week, and now her family is raising
funds to pay for her funeral.
Desiree Gibbon, 26, was found dead
on the side of the road with her throat
slashed on Sunday, Nov. 26. Th e Daily
News reported that residents of the
rural town of Anchovy, which is about
about 4 miles from Montego Bay, found
Gibbon’s body and alerted the police.
Police identifi ed Gibbon’s body by taking
her photo to hotels in the Montego
Bay area, one of which was her grandmother’s
hotel. Th e coroner will determine
Gibbon’s cause of death.
A graduate of Benjamin N. Cardozo High
School in Bayside, Gibbon was a beauty
contest contestant, model and actress.
According to published reports,
Gibbon fl ew down to Jamaica on Oct.
20 and stayed at her grandmother’s hotel
while she was looking for work to save
money for fi lm school in Europe. She
was due to return to the United States on
Th ursday, Nov. 30.
A GoFundMe page was set up by
Gibbon’s aunt to raise money for the
cost of her funeral and bringing her
body home. Within six days they have
raised over $32,000 from 660 donors.
To donate, visit www.gofundme.com/
desiree-gibbon-funeral.
BY ANGELA MATUA
amatua@qns.com / @AngelaMatua
A transgender woman who burglarized
the home of an Astoria senior citizen
several times and threatened him with a
knife was arrested last month. According
to the NYPD, the suspect committed burglaries
both at the Astoria home and in
Manhattan.
Captain Esvaldo Nunez, commanding
offi cer of the 114th Precinct, said Edith
Caoilfh ionn committed at least two burglaries
at a home at 32-77 46th St. in
October.
On Oct. 16, offi cers at the 114th Precinct
responded to a 911 call at the residence at
7 a.m. When Offi cers Joseph Basirico and
Bryan Faught arrived at the home, they
saw that the front door was open and that
a window at the home had been shattered.
When they searched the home, they
found Caoilfh ionn hiding in the bathtub
of the third fl oor bathroom. She was
holding a plastic bag and a black book
bag. Offi cers found a handheld telescope,
four iPads, one laptop and one cellphone,
according to a criminal complaint.
Th e home belongs to a man in his 90s
who has been in and out of the hospital
for the last two months, Nunez said.
Caoilfh ionn was “basically squatting” at
the home when the owner wasn’t there,
Nunez added. Th e captain also said that
police found World War II and Nazi paraphernalia
in the home but did not specify
what items they found.
“I was just hanging out there,”
Caoilfh ionn told the cops. “Th at’s my bag.
I went into the house because it was interesting.
I went in with a couple of friends. I
went into it to see the items inside. Th ere
were some strange things in there. Th ere
was a lot of Nazi stuff in there. My friend
said that he went there before and saw
the stuff .”
Caoilfh ionn also admitted into breaking
into a home in Manhattan and taking
an iPad. She admitted that she and
her friends “go into buildings regularly.”
She was charged with second-degree
burglary, petit larceny and fi ft h-degree
criminal possession of stolen property
and was released on her own recognizance.
On Oct. 23 at about 2:20 p.m.,
Caoilfh ionn went to the same home while
a man, who told police he was the legal
custodian of the house, was there. When
she saw him in the home, Caoilfh ionn
pulled out a knife and began waving it at
the man. She then pushed him into a glass
door. Before leaving the home, she again
waved the knife at Maximillian and hit
him several times, the criminal complaint
said. He suff ered a laceration to his elbow.
Nunez said offi cers went back to the
home earlier this month to board it up
and dissuade people from breaking in
again.
Caoilfh ionn was charged with fi rst-
and second-degree burglary, third-degree
assault, second-degree menacing,
fourth-degree criminal mischief,
fourth-degree criminal possession of a
weapon and second-degree harassment.
A judge set bail at $75,000 bond/$50,000
cash and she is due back in court on Dec. 11.
Photo via Google Maps
A transgender woman was arrested for burglarizing
an Astoria home several times.
Photo: GoFundMe
Jerusalem as Israel’s offi cial capital
with some hope.
Rabbi Yossi Blesofsky of Chabad
Lubavitch of northeast Queens recently
returned from a nine-day trip to Israel
with his family. He called the president’s
move, offi cially announced on Dec. 6, “a
very positive one,” speaking from a spiritual
standpoint.
“I feel it’s the right thing to do. It’s
long in coming,” Blesofsky said. “Real
peace can’t be predicated on an illusion
... It is the eternal capital of the Jewish
people.”
With his family, Blesofsky visited the
city’s holy sites, “thousands of years old
and deeply part of Jewish history.” Th e
rabbi spoke of the city’s “incredible connection”
to the Jewish people.
“Israel is the most tolerant country,”
the rabbi said. “I’ve toured the streets —
everyone is respected. Th e truth needs to
be told.”
Blesofsky said he felt the move would
be received positively by the local Jewish
community. Th e political implications of
the move, the rabbi continued, he won’t
discuss.
“I will leave that to the politicians,” he
said.
In a statement, Congressman Tom
Suozzi, who represents areas of eastern
Queens, also expressed his support for the
decision. Th e representative made a trip
to Israel earlier this year and sits on the
House Foreign Aff airs Committee and
the Subcommittee on the Middle East and
North Africa.
“Jerusalem has been the focal point of
Jewish religious devotion and has already
been reaffi rmed by Congress as the Israeli
capital,” Suozzi said. “It remains a beacon
of religious freedom and safeguards the
rights of Jews, Muslims and Christians
to visit and pray at their respective holy
sites.”
“We must continue to work toward a
durable and sustainable peace agreement
between Israel and the Palestinians resulting
in two states: a Jewish, democratic
state living side by side next to a demilitarized
Palestinian state, in peace and security,”
he added.
In his remarks on Wednesday, Trump
said the announcement “marks the
beginning of a new approach to confl
ict between Israel and the Palestinians”
and is “in the best interests of the United
States of America.”
Trump directed the State Department
to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv
(the current seat of Israel’s government)
to Jerusalem, a process that could take
years. Th e U.S. does have a consulate in
Jerusalem.
Czechia is the only other country in the
world to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s
capital. Both the Israelis and Palestinians
have claims to Jerusalem, which Israel
secured full control of during the Six-Day
War of 1967.
Some observers believe Trump’s recognition
of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital
changes the United States’ role as an independent
arbiter in the Middle East peace
process — and might infl ame tensions in
the region.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas
in a televised speech called Trump’s
announcement “a declaration of withdrawal
from the role (the U.S.) has
played in the peace process,” according to
reports. Th e Hamas terrorist organization
has also called for a “day of rage” in protest
of Trump’s declaration, according to
the NY Daily News.
Despite this, Israel’s President Reuven
Rivlin welcomed news of the Trump’s
announcement on Twitter.
“Th ere is no more fi tting or beautiful
gift , as we approach 70 years of the
State of Israel’s independence,” Rivlin said.
“Jerusalem is not, and never will be, an
obstacle to peace for those who want peace.”
Photo via Wikimedia Commons
