A week before his murder, Daniel Malakov’s beloved little girl was handed over to him, kicking and screaming – and his estranged wife, now on trial for the slaying, promised to take the child back “in a few days,” a jarring video of the incident shows.
Mazultov Borukhova watched intently yesterday as prosecutors in Queens Supreme Court played the video she commissioned of the moments before she surrendered custody of the couple’s then-4-year-old daughter, Michelle, on Oct. 22, 2007.
Her husband was gunned down at a Forest Hills playground six days later, when Malakov brought the child there to visit her mom.
“Please, let’s go,” Borukhova urges Michelle on the video. “You’re going to stay there a few days and I will take you back.”
The nearly hourlong video begins with Borukhova and Michelle playing and reading happily. But the facade of serenity explodes when Borukhova tells Michelle, “We’re going to see Daniel.”
“Noooooo!” wails Michelle.
“Nobody will hurt you,” Borukhova says. “Nobody will do any thing to you.”
The child flings herself on the floor, screaming, “No, I want you!” As Michelle cries, her mother turns to the cameraman to check the sound. “We have voice, OK?” she asks. Borukhova, whose face turns stony after the initial happy talk, picks up Michelle, who clings tightly to her mother.
She carries Michelle out of the house to the home of Malakov’s father home several blocks away.
After another bout of screaming and sobbing, Michelle is placed into her father’s arms. Her mother refuses to disentangle herself from the child for several minutes as the girl wails.
Earlier yesterday, Daniel Schnall, Michelle’s law guardian, testified that he advised Malakov to bring backup when he dropped off Michelle at the park.
“I specifically told him not to go alone,” Schnall said. “He should bring someone with him so he couldn’t be accused of anything.”
Schnall said he was surprised when Judge Sidney Strauss awarded Malakov temporary custody of Michelle in early October, even though no one had asked for it. Strauss, reacting to a report that Borukhova habitually interfered during supervised father-daughter visits, took the child from her mother, a ruling that prosecutors said ultimately sealed Malakov’s fate.
Borukhova, who allegedly set up the hit, and Mikhail Mallayev, the alleged gunman, are both on trial for murder.