A Richmond Hill man was sentenced Thursday in Queens Supreme Court to 25 years in prison for attempted murder in connection to a random assault of a six-year-old boy he committed in 2019. The defendant, Laurence Gendrau, lifted the boy over his head and slammed him head-first into the ground, fracturing the child’s skull. The youngster suffered bleeding on the brain and a collapsed lung as a result of the attack, which occurred in front of his grandparent’s Kew Gardens home.
Gendrau, whose last known address was on 110th Street in Richmond Hill, was convicted by a jury last month of attempted murder in the second degree, assault in the first degree, two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, grand larceny in the fourth degree and criminal possession of stolen property in the fifth degree.
According to the charges and trial testimony, on the afternoon of Oct. 10, 2019, a six-year-old was waiting with his older brother outside their grandparents’ Kew Gardens home for a pizza delivery. Gendreau, who was walking by, suddenly charged the child, yelling at him. He lifted the boy over his head and slammed him onto the pavement head-first.
As the child lay motionless on the ground, his brother ran inside the grandparents’ house to alert his family as Gendreau fled. The grandfather chased after Gendreau and flagged down a police officer from the 102nd Precinct in Richmond Hill, who arrested Gendreau near Lefferts Boulevard and Metropolitan Avenue.
EMS responded to the crime scene and rushed the injured child to an area hospital, where he was treated for a fractured skull, bleeding on the brain and a collapsed lung. He has since recovered.
Earlier in the day, at approximately 3:30 p.m., on Union Turnpike in Kew Gardens, Gendreau approached an 83-year-old woman who was on a bench and sat down next to her before snatched her iPad. The stolen iPad was recovered from Gendreau when he was arrested after assaulting the six-year-old boy.
“The brutality displayed by this defendant toward an innocent child is heartbreaking,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. “With this sentence, we have achieved justice for the young boy and his family and taken a dangerous man off of our streets.”
Queens Supreme Court Justice Ira Margulis sentenced Gendreau to 25 years in prison to be followed by five years-post release supervision.