Nicholas Brooks, the slacker son of accused rapist Joseph Brooks, will remain behind bars without bail until he can be arraigned next week on charges of attempted murder and strangulation, his attorney said yesterday.
Brooks, arrested late last night, was “in a state of shock” over the death of his swimsuit designer girlfriend Sylvie Cachay and the charges brought against him, said defense attorney Jeffrey Hoffman.
Hoffman made a brief appearance in Manhattan Criminal Court yesterday to ask that arraignment proceedings against his unemployed 24-year-old client be adjourned until this Thursday so he could better determine how much bail to request for Brooks.
Brooks will testify on his own behalf if a grand jury is called, Hoffman said.
“I’m convinced he is innocent and didn’t commit any crime,” the attorney said, noting that his client voluntarily submitted to police questioning after Cachay’s half-naked, bruised body was found floating in the bathtub of a ritzy hotel room last week.
Brooks wasn’t aware that his ex-girlfriend was dead until police told him, Hoffman said. He didn’t call for a lawyer until police arrested him.
“No one was more shocked than he was that after 18 hours he was charged with a crime,” said Hoffman. “The last time he was with Sylvie she was alive and healthy.”
Assistant District Attorney Jordan Arnold yesterday said Brooks was a flight risk with a history of violence and a rocky relationship with his relatives.
“There are domestic incidents on file with his family,” said Arnold, who plans to convene a grand jury to hear the charges against Brooks.
Brooks also had an altercation with an unknown woman last Christmas Eve, Arnold said. Brooks pushed the woman to the ground and told her, “You’ll be dead in 48 hours,” according to the ADA.
No arrests were made but police were aware of the incident, Arnold said.
He described Brooks as a rootless rich kid who lives off a trust fund and has no deep ties to keep him in town.
“He sleeps on a mattress in a rented room. His possessions are in a suitcase. The defendant attempted to kill a young woman who had everything to live for,” Arnold said.
Cachay, 33, was a hard-working designer with an unlucky love life. She had a strained relationship with the shiftless Brookss, whom she’d met about four months ago, and was about to jilt him, her friends told police. An apology note was found in her purse.
The Peruvian-born stunner checked into the Soho House around 12:30 a.m. with Brooks last Thursday. She was so fuzzy from Xanax the concierge had to help her to her room.
An attendant brought up a bucket of ice not long after, and that was the last time she was seen alive by anyone other than Brooks, authorities said.
Brooks was in the room from 1:45 a.m. to 2:16 a.m., when he left to meet someone. He eventually wound up at a nearby bar where he did shots until about 4 a.m., Arnold said.
Hotel guests began complaining of water leaks inside the Soho House just before he left the premises.
Staffers soon discovered the lifeless Cachay in overflowing tub, and police were on the scene by 3 a.m.. Brooks stumbled back to the room about an hour later.
The city Medical Examiner has yet to declare Cachay’s death a homicide. But Arnold said there were abrasions on her face and eyes, concussion marks on her mouth, multiple contusions and internal hemorrhaging.
“The injuries to her are significant, and a classic hallmark of an intent to kill,” he said. “This is very much an ongoing and active investigation.”
gotis@nypost.com