There were new details in the sickening case of a man accused of raping a 13-year-old girl in Kissena Park in Queens after tying her and a teen boy up. The suspect faced a judge Wednesday after a stint in the hospital for injuries delivered by neighbors who captured him and turned him in. NBC New York’s Pei-Sze Cheng reports.
What to Know
- New details were shared by the man suspected in a violent sexual attack of a 13-year-old girl in a Queens park, as he admitted to having a drug problem and that he recorded the entire alleged assault.
- Christian Inga faced a judge for the first time Wednesday as he faced a long list of charges including rape and kidnapping for the afternoon attack on June 13 in which he ambushed two teens at Kissena Park after school, then forced them into the woods at knifepoint and tied them up before sexually assaulting the girl.
- During his court appearance, prosecutors said Inga admitted to having a drug problem. In the same interview, he allegedly told police he saw the boy and girl near the woods and tied them together, gagged them and then assaulted the girl.
New details were shared by the man suspected in a violent sexual attack of a 13-year-old girl in a Queens park, as he admitted to having a drug problem and that he recorded the entire alleged assault, according to prosecutors.
Christian Inga faced a judge for the first time Wednesday as he faced a long list of charges including rape and kidnapping for the afternoon attack on June 13 in which he ambushed two teens at the popular Kissena Park after school, then forced them into the woods at knifepoint and tied them up before sexually assaulting the girl.
Inga was arrested in Corona Tuesday following a dayslong, city-wide manhunt. He was recognized by people in his neighborhood who took matters into their own hands, holding the 25-year-old down and belting his legs together as they waited for police.
"I told everybody yo this the rapist. I punched him. I kicked him. I ain’t gonna lie," Jeffrey Flores told NBC New York on Tuesday.
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He had recognized Inga from the NYPD wanted posters and decided to take some friends to wait at a bodega on 108th and Waldon streets where they knew he frequently stopped at. The group waited for hours before Inga showed up, and they went after him, according to sources, calling 911 to say, "Come get him."
"He started yelling 'help, help' in Spanish. I was like 'Yeah that’s what the little girl was saying,'" said Flores. "He really try to run, run, run for his life but he couldn’t."
At one point, Flores says the man tried to hide underneath a car until officers arrived and took him into custody. Inga was in court Wednesday following a brief hospital stint to treat injuries delivered by the neighbors who captured and turned him in.
Flores said Inga didn't deny the sexual assault allegations, a statement corroborated by a bodega worker in the store at the time.
According to investigators, the boy and girl were in a field in Kissena Park around 3 p.m., just after school let out for the day, when a curly-haired man with braces walked up and demanded they follow him into the woods. When they refused, police say he pulled out a "large machete-style knife" and forced them into an isolated area, where he bound each of their wrists with a shoelace. Then he sexually assaulted the 13-year-old girl.
The kids told cops the man warned them to stay where they were for 20 minutes. He then ran off with their phones. Once time was up, they returned to school and told administrators what happened. They called 911 immediately.
The children were taken to a hospital for treatment. A shoelace, possibly the one used to tie the children's wrists, was recovered at the scene.
During his court appearance, prosecutors said Inga admitted to having a drug problem. In the same interview, he allegedly told police he saw the boy and girl near the woods and tied them together, gagged them and then assaulted the girl.
He told police he recorded the attack, but Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz would not answer any further questions about that detail, saying it is "under investigation."
Echoing police's words from a day ago, DA Katz commended the victims for helping police find him in the days after the attack that terrorized the community and shocked New Yorkers across the city.
"This attack on two children in broad daylight in a city park strikes the very core of our society," said Katz.
Two senior police officials say Inga is an Ecuadorian national who arrived in New York City in 2021 after crossing the border in Eagle Pass, Texas, along with his then-3-year-old son. Inga, a father of two, was charged with rape, robbery, sexual assault, kidnapping, endangering child welfare and other counts.
Prosecutors said his immigration status was a major reason he was a flight risk, to which the judge agreed, ordering him held without bail. Inga requested additional medical attention for the bruises on his face. His next court appearance is scheduled for July.
If convicted, Inga faces 25 years to life in prison. His lawyer did not immediately comment. The Ecuadorian consulate did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Police previously said Inga had no prior arrests in New York City but did have one arrest in Texas.
