A Manhattan shrink apparently paid for the sledgehammer linked to a near-fatal attack on the estranged father of her child, store surveillance photos obtained by The Post reveal.
Jacob Nolan, 22, of Ronkonkoma, LI, is accused of clubbing psychiatrist Michael Weiss, 40, with the sledgehammer and repeatedly stabbing him with a kitchen knife at the victim’s West 57th Street home office on Nov. 12, 2012.
But Nolan claims that his scheming psychiatrist cousin, Pamela Buchbinder, put him up to the grisly attack, sources said.
And Weiss, who survived the attack, slapped his ex, Buchbinder, with a $5 million Manhattan civil suit that accuses her of orchestrating the bloody confrontation so she could cash in on a $1.5 million life-insurance policy he amended to name her as a beneficiary four days before the gory assault.
The surveillance footage apparently shows Buchbinder, 44, paying cash for the sledgehammer at a Manhattan Home Depot the night before the attempted murder. Nolan can be seen at her side.
Through serial numbers, detectives tracked the hammer to the Chelsea store and checked video surveillance, a law-enforcement source said.
Weiss is frustrated that Nolan still hasn’t been indicted more than a year after the crime and that Buchbinder hasn’t been arrested, according to his lawyer Roland Acevedo.
“We’re extremely surprised she has not been charged in light of their history, the life-insurance policy and the purchase of the sledgehammer on film — I don’t know what else they need,” Acevedo said.
“Miss Buchbinder lives in a brand-new high-rise apartment. There’s no reason in the world that she or Jacob would need a sledgehammer.”
Nolan is cooperating with Manhattan prosecutors in their investigation of Buchbinder, but negotiations have stalled. He wants a no-jail plea deal, but prosecutors want him to do time, according to a law-enforcement source.
Buchbinder allegedly provided Nolan with a hand-drawn map of Weiss’ doorman building that noted entrances and exits, as well as a layout of his home office, the source said.
Nolan — who lived with Buchbinder in her $7,000-a-month Chelsea pad at the time of the attempted murder — showed up at Weiss’ office on the morning of Nov. 12 carrying a heavy black duffel bag. Nolan, the godfather of the estranged couple’s 6-year-old son, argued with Weiss about the boy’s unpaid tuition fees and then abruptly asked to use the bathroom. Nolan allegedly emerged swinging a sledgehammer over Weiss’ head, bashing the horrified psychiatrist on the shoulder as he cowered at his desk.
Nolan then whipped out a kitchen knife and plunged it into the dazed analyst’s back and chest eight times, authorities allege.
The shrink managed to wrestle the blade from his assailant and stab him once before crawling into the hallway drenched in blood to scream for help.
Cops arrested Nolan for attempted murder and other charges. He was released on $200,000 bond.
Nolan declined to comment. Buchbinder and the Manhattan DA’s office didn’t respond to requests for comment.