A man nearly decapitated his wife on a Queens street corner early Monday — sawing through her neck in front of a witness who mistakenly asked if he needed help before he realized the unfolding horror, authorities and sources said.
The 50-year-old man allegedly confronted the woman — identified as being in her 40s — about a man she supposedly met online at the corner of 124th Street and 103rd Avenue when they got into a fight shortly after midnight.
He then pulled out a large kitchen knife and stabbed her several times in the chest, shoulder and both hands, cops said.
Two witnesses who happened to be walking down the street at the time found Prem Rampersaud, 50, kneeling over her body making what appeared to be sawing motions with a large knife and said it sounded like he was cutting through bone, sources said.
One of the witnesses then asked Rampersaud, “Do you need help?,” according to sources.
Rampersaud then turned around and looked at the pair for a moment before continuing to saw through the victim’s neck.
Police captured Rampersaud a few blocks away and took him in for questioning.
He has been charged with murder and possession of a weapon, police said.
A knife believed to be the murder weapon was recovered at the scene, officials said.
Rampersaud was still wearing his pajama bottoms as he was escorted by officials from the 106th Precinct station house Monday afternoon to the courthouse for arraignment.
The woman was pronounced dead at Jamaica Hospital. Her identity is being withheld pending family notification.
Police said Rampersaud gave his wife approximately $9,000 to move to the US from their native Guyana about a year ago and eventually followed her to Queens, where they moved in together.
She had been working at the Oasis cafe for about a month and all was well until her husband arrived, co-workers said.
A server at the cafe, Nazia Rajpaul, 25, said the victim pleaded with staffers to protect her.
“He came here on a Friday at 5 p.m. and he was mad drunk,” said Rajpaul. “We had to get the bouncer to take him out.”
A woman renting an apartment to the couple said Rampersaud had come just a week earlier on a tourist visa.
“A mutual friend of ours asked me if I could keep him because he was looking for a job,” said the woman, who requested anonymity. “I tried to help him out. He said his wife was cheating on him, but that was BS.”