Woman Arrested In Attack On Muslim Family In Rego Park

REGO PARK, QUEENS — A woman has been arrested on a hate crime charge in connection with an attack last week on a Muslim family in Rego Park, according to police and prosecutors.

Giselle DeJesus was charged with assaulting and harassing the family in the parking lot of their Woodhaven Boulevard apartment building the night of Nov. 6, with the help of a man who is still at large, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a news release Friday.

The attack left Rego Park resident Khaled Aly, who was brutally beaten in front of his wife and two children, with several fractures that required surgery, according to prosecutors and the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which is representing the family.

DeJesus is accused of grabbing Aly's wife's hijab while yelling "f—ing Muslim" at her, then kicking Aly in the stomach and cursing at him while her unnamed accomplice kicked him in the head and threatened to kill the entire family, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said DeJesus had previously harassed Aly's wife and her children in the building's parking lot.

The NYPD's Hate Crime Task Force determined the attack Friday was not "a bias incident" and instead assigned the case to detectives at the local precinct, the Queens Daily Eagle reported.

Following days of public pressure and news reports, the NYPD's 112th Precinct Commander Joseph Cappelmann said investigators had learned new information and determined the attack “may have been motivated by the victim’s religious beliefs," according to the Eagle.

The family told CAIR-NY they recognized the attackers as two neighbors in their Rego Park apartment complex who had previously harassed them — incidents they had reported to police and building management.

DeJesus, 35, was arraigned Friday on charges of assault as a hate crime, aggravated harassment, endangering the welfare of a child and disorderly conduct, according to prosecutors.

If convicted, she faces up to 15 years in prison.