According to newly released court records, the illegal immigrant accused of torching a woman to death on a Brooklyn subway train was so intoxicated that he was taken aback when cops showed him video of the horrific attack.
“Oh damn, that’s me!” Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, 33, of Guatemala, allegedly told NYPD detectives when he saw footage of the Dec. 22 attack at the Brooklyn F train station.
“No, the truth is I don’t remember,” he claimed. “Oh my goodness!”
According to a transcript of the interview unsealed in Brooklyn Supreme Court on Tuesday, Zapeta-Calil appeared disgusted by the images, wiping his eyes and lowering his head to a table.
The stationhouse interview came just hours after cops said the drunken accused killer lit a lighter on a F train and set fire to a sleeping Debrina Kawam, 57, of Toms River, NJ, before fanning the flames and watching her burn.
The hard-drinking migrant was arraigned on murder and arson charges on Tuesday, wearing an orange jumpsuit and jacket. He admitted to entering the country illegally five years ago and was typically drunk.
“Sometimes when I drink and erase the memory, and I don’t know, right?” Zapeta-Calil allegedly informed cops just hours after the disturbing, videotaped attack.
“When I wake up, I am already in the house and sleeping. “I wake up when I’m already at home, or sometimes when I’m already at the train station,” he explained. “I was drunk. “I drink in the afternoon.”
Zapeta-Calil was initially turned away at the border in 2018, but he snuck back into the country and was living with relatives before entering the Big Apple shelter system, according to authorities.
According to a transcript of the interview, he told Brooklyn detectives that he worked as a roofer with “a Mexican” and got off work and went straight to a Queens bar, where he drank beer and tequila before picking up more beer and continuing to drink.
After a night of partying, Zapeta-Calil told cops he boarded the F train early the morning of the attack.
“Then, around 8 or 9 a.m., I stayed on 18th Avenue,” he allegedly stated. “I honestly don’t remember how I got on this F train. When I responded, I was already on it. “When I awoke, I was already on the F train.”
The migrant allegedly got off at the Stillwell Avenue-Coney Island station and set fire to Kawan while she slept, before being apprehended by police near Columbus Circle later that day.
In court on Tuesday, the migrant’s lawyer requested that he be kept under medical supervision while being held without bail.
Zapeta-Calil has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is due back in court in March.
“I am very sorry,” he allegedly told the NYPD detectives. “I did not mean to. But I honestly don’t know. I’m not sure what happened, but I’m deeply sorry for that woman.”
