By Tamar Lapin, Joe Marino and Melissa Klein, New York Post
A NEW YORK CITY man has been busted for the horrifying November attack on an aspiring Thai model on a Herald Square subway platform, police said on Saturday.
Kevin Douglas, 40, was charged on Thursday with second-degree robbery, third-degree robbery and second-degree assault, according to the NYPD. The address provided by police for Douglas was a Days Inn hotel near JFK International Airport.
But Douglas has been in jail since the Nov. 22 subway attack, locked up for another crime later the same day as the assault, public records show.
The attack happened at 4:30 a.m. as Ms Sirinat Jirajariyawetch, or Bew, 23, was on the uptown D platform waiting for a train home to Queens.
Surveillance footage showed a man yanking her back several feet before throwing her to the ground and punching her. While she was down, the mugger allegedly touched her private parts and fled with her purse, police said.
“I’m just glad that I’m still alive,” Sirinat told The Post after the brutal mugging.
Photos taken after the assault showed the young woman’s face covered in purple bruises with dried blood caked under her nose and near her mouth.
The Thai resident had moved to the Big Apple only a few months earlier to study English and pursue a career in fashion. She said the violent attack changed her view of the city because she saw “the other side.”
A relieved Sirinat said she was glad an arrest was made.
“Nothing can change what happened to me but I am happy to know he can not do this to someone else,” she said.
Her lawyer, Eric Parnes, called the arrest “inspiring” for victims of crime without justice.
“Although this took an incredible amount of pressure and time to lead to an arrest, it does show that when the police and prosecutors are allowed to do their job without illogical restraints people can have some sense of hope that things can be better,” Parnes said.
It was not immediately clear what led police to arrest Douglas on Thursday. He was charged while at Central Booking at 100 Centre St. in Manhattan, the NYPD said.
Douglas has been held on Rikers Island since he was arrested at around 1 p.m. Nov. 22 for an incident in Jamaica when he is alleged to have pushed open the door of a random 34-year-old woman’s home and punched her in the face, according to records and sources.
He has been arrested 44 times and faced charges for drugs, assault, criminal possession of a weapon, robbery and criminal tampering dating back to 1997, sources said.
On one day alone — May 13, 2019, he was arrested 16 times, according to sources. The reason for the flurry of arrests was not immediately known.
He was arraigned on the latest charges in Manhattan Supreme Court on Thursday before Judge Curtis Farber, who set bail at $75,000. His next court date in this case is April 11.
CAPTIONS:
Top: Kevin Douglas (left) was arrested and charged for the November beating of Sirinat Jirajariyawetch on Thursday. Photo: NYPD and published by Fox News
Insert: Sirinat showed her bloody wounds after being pummelled in the attack. Photo: New York Post
Home Page: Sirinat recently moved to NYC from Thailand to pursue a modelling and fashion career. Photo: New York Post
(Additional reporting by Dean Balsamini and Larry Celona)
