The Ecuadorian man who raped a 13-year-old girl at knifepoint in a Queens park told police after his arrest that he began recording the assault midway through as he became more “comfortable” attacking the victim, according to prosecutors.
Christian Inga, 25, was arraigned Wednesday on charges including rape, predatory sexual assault and robbery for the Thursday attack in Flushing’s Kissena Corridor Park.
The hearing came after a citywide, five-day manhunt that ended early Tuesday when a group of good Samaritans spotted Inga outside a deli near Waldorn and 108th Sts. in Corona — about 3 miles from the park.
The determined locals staked out the deli all day after recognizing Inga in a wanted photo released by police and identifying him as a regular at the shop.
When Inga returned to the deli around 1:30 a.m., the neighbors attacked, bounding his legs together with a belt until police arrived and arrested him.
Following his arrest, he told police he has a drug problem and spotted the victim and her 13-year-old schoolmate “having sexual relations,” according to prosecutors. Cops previously told reporters the classmates had just finished up playing soccer when Inga approached them.
“I had a knife that I found in the park,” Inga told cops, according to prosecutors. “They caved in because I showed them the knife. I approached them and told them to shut up.”
The man led the teens off the beaten path and into a patch of trees, where he tied them together with a shoelace and “put a bandana in the girl’s mouth and another piece of cloth in the boy’s mouth,” prosecutors said.
Inga then used the same knife he threatened the kids with to cut off the girl’s clothes.
“I was nervous at first, then got comfortable and recorded it,” he told cops, according to prosecutors.
After raping the girl, Inga robbed both teens of their phones and took off. The victims immediately sought help at a nearby school, where faculty called the police.
The kids provided an NYPD sketch artist with incredible detail of the attacker, including intricate tattoo details that were pivotal in the investigation, a detective told the Daily News on Tuesday.
NYPD/DCPI
The tattoo reportedly seen on the man who sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl inside Kissena Park in Queens. (NYPD)
“It is amazing that from what they went through, their identification, their memory of the tattoo, the braces,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said Wednesday. “All of which was on point.”
Inga, who entered the U.S. through Eagle Pass, Tex., with a 3-year-old child in June 2021, was staying at a single-room occupancy in a Queens basement, police said.
After he crossed into the U.S., he lost his immigration status and was required to return to Ecuador, but never did. He currently has a warrant out for his arrest by immigration authorities.
He has an ex-wife and two children, according to prosecutors.
Following his Wednesday arraignment, Inga was held without bail. He faces up to life in prison if convicted, officials said.
