Homeless Man Charged In Brutal Kew Gardens Hills Sex Attack: DA

KEW GARDENS HILLS, QUEENS -- A homeless man was charged in the brutal beating and sexual assault of a 52-year-old Queens woman nearly two weeks after the broad-daylight attack rattled Kew Gardens Hills.

Ronald Williams, 21, was arraigned and held without bail on Thursday for the unprovoked April 30 attack on the mother moments after she dropped her son off at school at 8 a.m., prosecutors said. She was found unconscious around a half hour later at the bottom of a stairwell near 72nd Road and Kissena Boulevard, police said.

The mother had been beaten "so viciously that she was unrecognizable" when officers found her, said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.

"No one should have to worry about fending off a sexual attack on the streets of our county at any time of the day or night," Brown said.

Williams, whose last known address was a Queens shelter, allegedly dragged the woman to an apartment building's outdoor stairwell before beating and sexually assaulting her, according to the charges.

Police don't believe the two knew each other.

"We find this to be an extremely violent and random attack that we wouldn't normally see at this time of day," NYPD Special Victims Division Capt. Elisa Anders said of the assault.

The woman was rushed to a nearby hospital in critical condition after the attack, where she is still being treated for injuries including a broken vertebrae in her neck and a fractured tailbone, authorities said. She was intubated for several days and required four stitches in her head for a blunt force injury.

Police began a manhunt for Williams shortly after the attack, offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to his arrest. The weeklong search ended hundreds of miles away on Tuesday when members of the NYPD's Regional Fugitive Task Force cuffed him in Columbia, South Carolina on a probation violation and took him back to Queens.

"Despite (Williams') efforts to escape justice, he was fortunately apprehended and will now stand accountable for this horrific crime," Brown said.

Williams was charged with first-degree assault, first-degree sexual abuse and first-degree unlawful imprisonment. He will remain behind bars until his next court date on June 8.

If convicted, he faces up to 25 years in prison.

(Lead photo via NYPD)