Borough man gets 4 years in beating death of friend

By jennifer dome
Staff Writer

Borough man gets 4 years
in beating death of friend
By jennifer dome
Staff Writer

SOUTH RIVER — Borough resident John Goldsborough, who pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter in the Jan. 8 beating that led to the death of his housemate, has been sentenced to four years in prison.

Goldsborough, 48, must serve 85 percent of his sentence — handed down by state Superior Court Judge Phillip Paley in New Brunswick on Oct. 25 — before he is eligible for parole, said Assistant Middlesex County Prosecutor Joseph Rea. He will also have a mandatory parole period of three years, Rea said.

Goldsborough and Lawrence Csordas, who was 64 at the time of his death, reportedly began drinking beer around 7 p.m. on Jan. 8 at their Raritan Avenue home. The two men began arguing "over nothing significant," said Assistant Middlesex County Prosecutor Thomas Kapsak. Goldsborough then reportedly punched Csordas two or three times, striking his stomach and an area above the eye.

Csordas did not seek medical attention, but died the next day from internal injuries. The official cause of death was bleeding due to lacerations of the spleen and the membranes around the intestines.

Goldsborough had reportedly called the police from his neighbor’s house at 3:42 p.m. Jan. 9, requesting assistance for Csordas due to his deteriorating condition. Police found Csordas dead in the living room of the house, Kapsak said.

Officials stated in January that they did not believe the 150-pound Csordas struck back against Goldsborough, who weighed 245 pounds.

After medical reports showed the cause of death, Goldsborough was taken into custody on Jan. 10 and was charged with aggravated manslaughter. He was held at the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center, North Brunswick.

The two men had been friends for many years, and Csordas, whose 87-year-old mother, Helen, also lived in the house at the time, invited Goldsborough to rent an upstairs bedroom after learning that his friend needed a place to live.

Goldsborough had been a custodian for the South River Board of Education, but was fired in January 1997 with several other custodians after they were accused of falsifying their time cards and receiving pay for time they didn’t work.

At the time of the incident in January, Csordas had been working in construction and Goldsborough was working in the meat department at the Stop & Shop, Route 18 in East Brunswick.