Accused triple-murderer Stephen Sakai made a bizarre spectacle of himself on the stand today as he testified in his own defense — effecting a Charlie Chan-style Asian accent and claiming to have flown to the Far East on a private jet for martial arts competitions.
The 32-year-old former bar bouncer, dressed in all gray and wearing a Fu-Manchu mustache denied any role in the three killings, while consistently mispronouncing his l’s as r’s.
“Frist name Stephen, rast name, Sakai,” he told the Brooklyn Supreme Court clerk as he began his testimony.
Sakai faces life in prison if convicted of stabbing to death a one-time buddy, Wayne Tyson, and fatally shooting fellow bouncers Irving Matos and Edwin Mojica in 2005.
But on the stand, Sakai pinned it all on an NYPD detective, Christopher Breslin — which he pronounced “Bresrin” — who was angry that Sakai had refused to share corporate bodyguard work with him.
“Wayne Tyson was a good person,” Sakai said. “He was a friend of mine. He supported me when I needed him most. Irv Matos did the same .ñ.ñ. He referred to me as his rittle (sic) brother. These two people didn’t die because there was someone running around killing. These two people died because they supported me, collecting evidence against a dirty cop.
“During this trial, I’ve had to sit there and listen to rie after rie,” he said, maintaining the mock Asian accent.
Under cross-examination by prosecutor Tim Gough, Sakai, who was born Stephen Sanders but later changed his name to Sakai, claimed he’d been flown to Cambodia and Vietnam — without a passport — on a private jet by an Asian businessman interested in martial arts, beginning at the age of 5.
“The rast time I went overseas was in 2006,” he said.
Sakai also said his mother, who was seated in the gallery, had copies of documents that would clear him and prove the vast police conspiracy he claimed he was investigating.
“Is it your testimony that there is a death squad in the New York City Police Department?” Gough asked the accused man.
“I wouldn’t call them police.”
Zoraida Cook, the sister of the third victim, Edwin Mojica, said she believed the crazy-man routine was an act.
“I’m angry at what I’m hearing,” she said. “At this point I think it’s ludicrous, what he’s saying. I just hope everyone can see through this and that the final result is justice.”