In a disturbing case out of Queens, a man was sentenced to 25 years in prison after pushing his 64-year-old mother out of a third-floor window. Despite his attempts to redirect blame onto his mother, the court was not swayed by his claims.
George Tsintzelis, 37, received the maximum sentence for the shocking assault that took place in 2024. During his court appearance, he audaciously claimed that his mother was the one with mental health issues, attempting to absolve himself of responsibility by saying, “She did that to herself.”
He continued his plea to Supreme Court Justice Peter Vallone, lamenting, “It’s not fair that I lose my freedom because of somebody that has mental health issues.” His attempts to discredit the prosecution fell flat, as he accused the District Attorney of lying and argued that his past crimes were unrelated to the current case.
The jury, however, found Tsintzelis guilty of attempted murder in December. The verdict was based on the brutal attack on his own mother, which occurred after she refused to give him money for drugs on November 15, 2024.
Despite the terrifying ordeal, Paraskevi Tsintzelis survived her three-story fall in Astoria and bravely testified against her son. However, the trauma of the incident kept her from attending the sentencing, unable to face him in court on that day.
Paraskevi Tsintzelis miraculously survived the three-story fall in Astoria to testify against her troubled son — but couldn’t bring herself to face him in court for his sentencing on Wednesday.
“He deserved what he got,” the thug’s sister, Argyro, told The Post. “I don’t want to see him on the streets again. I feel safer. He shouldn’t be in society. He threw his life in the garbage.
“He doesn’t care,” she added. “It’s all about him.”
Prosecutors said George Tsintzelis, who has had a string of prior arrests, was a bad seed who had repeatedly terrorized his mother for years, assaulting her and stealing from her to feed his drug habit.
On the day he tried to kill her, prosecutors said he held a knife to her throat before dragging her to the window and pushing her out — then tried to cover his tracks and claimed he wasn’t even there.
“Arguably the worst part of this is he left her there to die on the ground,” Assistant District Attorney Christina Mavrikis said in court. “He called 911 and he pretended to have no idea what just happened.”
Mavrikis said even after his arrest the convicted son tried to manipulate his battered mother.
“He called her from Rikers, violating the order of protection to try to emotionally manipulate her into not coming to court and testifying here to tell everybody what had happened to her,” the prosecutor said.
“She told me that she was haunted by the memory of that evening,” she said. “She cannot sleep in her own bed anymore, and she has not done so since she returned from the hospital after the incident. She told me, ‘as a mother I tried. I love my son. I didn’t want this. I tried to help him, support him.
“‘I tried to get him into programs, I let him live with me,’” Mavrikis said. “‘He needs help, but I’m also scared of what he’ll do to me if he gets out.’ She knows if he were to get out he is a great risk of injuring her and even killing her.”
Argyro Tsintzelis said her mom had a doctor’s appointment on the day her brother was being sentenced, and still needs more surgery, including on her shattered ankle.
“It’s the eighth surgery but it might not be the last,” she said.
In court, even the judge got tired of her son’s rambling, cutting his phony claims short.
“Ok, you’re done,” Valllone said. “You were asking for mercy today, but what I give you today is justice, justice that you deserve. The sentence today is for what you did to your mom. I’m sentencing you to the maximum allowed — 25 years.
“She always provided a safe haven for you,” the judge added. “How did you repay her? A life of abuse, culminating with you pushing her out of a third-story window. You attempted to kill her and you failed. Now this poor woman, as you just heard, couldn’t even come to court today.”
In a statement, Queens DA Melinda Katz called the crime “an unthinkable actd of violence.
“We hope today’s sentencing brings a measure of solace to Ms. Tsintzelis as she continues to recover from her injuries,” Katz added.
