A Brooklyn man faces up to life in prison after he was convicted at trial on Wednesday, Sept. 16, in Queens Supreme Court for a brutal 2024 assault of a masseuse inside an Astoria spa.
Tahir Toloa, 38, of East 18th Street in Sheepshead Bay, was found guilty of assault in the first degree, robbery in the first degree, sexual abuse in the first degree, and other crimes for viciously attacking a 55-year-old female victim with a firearm and his fists and then robbed her at gunpoint. Toloa then sexually assaulted the woman, who leaped from a second story window to escape her attacker. The jury deliberated for one day before reaching the guilty verdict.
According to trial records, on May 13, 2024, at approximately 9 p.m., Toloa knocked on the door of a spa located on Newtown Avenue in Astoria and requested a massage. The victim, a 55-year-old woman, opened the door and directed Toloa to a room.
The woman collected the fee from Toloa and instructed him to prepare for his massage while she exited the room. The defendant left the massage room, went to the bathroom, and then returned to the massage room. When the victim entered the massage area, Toloa was wearing a ski mask and holding a gun. The defendant pushed the victim out of the room and began attacking her. Toloa held the victim down and repeatedly pistol whipped and punched her causing deep lacerations and bruising to her head, scalp and face. Toloa then dragged the victim by her hair and arms down the hall to the back of the spa and, at gunpoint, forced her to open the register. He removed $3,000. Toloa then noticed a camera located near the register and threw it on the ground, breaking it.
Toloa then grabbed the victim at gunpoint and pulled her pants down. Toloa and tried to escape as he repeatedly touched her exposed buttocks. He then dragged her into the bathroom and told her to stay there. The victim immediately locked the door and jumped out of a window, falling two stories onto the concrete floor below. She was transported to a local hospital where she was treated for a broken leg, broken feet and broken vertebrae.
Toloa was arrested on June 6, 2024, when he attended a parole meeting in the confines of the 114th Precinct in Astoria, according to the NYPD.
“Tahir Toloa entered an Astoria spa under the pretense of wanting a massage, and then brutally beat a 55-year-old masseuse by pistol whipping and punching her,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. “He sexually assaulted the woman and then made off with $3,000 stolen at gunpoint from the register. The brave survivor was only able to escape her attacker by leaping from a second-story window after she barricaded herself in a bathroom.”
Toloa was additionally charged with robbery in the second degree, assault in the second degree, criminal possession of a weapon and forcible touching. Trial openings began on Sept. 2 and summations took place on Tuesday, Sept. 15. The jury rendered the guilty verdict the following day.
“I thank my prosecutors for securing a trial conviction against this very dangerous individual,” Katz said.
Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Harofilis set a sentencing date of Oct. 20 when Toloa faces up to life in prison.