Man Who 'Viciously' Attacked Queens Mother Sentenced To Prison

KEW GARDENS HILLS, QUEENS — A young man will go to prison for 12 years for brutally beating and sexually assaulting a mother in a Kew Gardens Hills stairwell in 2018, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced on Tuesday.

On the morning of April 30, 2018, around 8:00 a.m., Ronald Williams, a then 21-year-old attacked a 52-year-old Queens mother who was walking to the grocery store after dropping her son off at school, according to multiple reports. The New York Post reported that Williams pushed the mother down a set of stairs and dragged her to an outdoor stairwell near 72nd Road and Kissena Boulevard, where she was eventually found partially naked and bleeding from her head by a building superintendent.

DA Katz described the attack as "vicious," adding that when the mother was found she was "virtually unrecognizable due to the extent of her bruises and injuries," which included fractures on her neck and face and deep gashes on her head. Later that day, ABC News reported that her injuries were so severe that she wasn't able to speak.

In the days following the attack, police assembled a 40-person team to find Williams, who was eventually arrested eight days later in a South Carolina motel, according to QNS.

ABC News reported that a couple of days after his arrest Williams appeared in court, where his attorney entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf.

Although Williams did not speak during that day in court, prosecutors quoted him from a videotaped confession, where they said that he confessed to pushing the woman down the stairs and punching her in the face a few times.

However, in the confession read by prosecutors, Williams was quoted as saying "I wasn't going to rape her. I don't know how her pants got pulled down... I was only going to rob her. I get angry and black out sometimes."

Williams' attorney requested a psychiatric evaluation on his behalf, which the judge ordered. There are no reported details of what came from the evaluation.

During the time of his arraignment, multiple outlets reported that Williams had a history of assault dating back to 2017.

In that year Williams allegedly walked up to a 33-year-old woman in the Bronx, masturbated in front of her, punched her in the face, and tried to rob her, according to a report by the New York Post. ABC News reported that he was charged with assault, and ultimately received probation in lieu of time in prison.

Last month, over two years after the attack took place, Williams pled guilty to assault and attempted sexual abuse, according to DA Katz.

The DA said that on Tuesday he was sentenced to 12 years in prison, five years of supervised release, and is now required to register as a sex offender.

"Although the defendant attempted to evade justice, he was apprehended and has now been sentenced by the Court," said DA Katz on Tuesday.