High-risk black sex offender released early from prison last year charged in rape of 21-year-old woman in Hudson River Park New York

VICTIM: “I was looking him in the eyes (asking) him, ‘How can you do this? Don’t you have a mother and sister?’ ” the Tribeca woman told the Daily News.

A high-risk sex offender pummeled and raped a 21-year-old actress in Hudson River Park at dawn Saturday as she stared into his eyes, begging him to stop. “I was looking him in the eyes (asking) him, ‘How can you do this? Don’t you have a mother and sister?’ ” the Tribeca woman told the Daily News. “He was like, ‘They’re dead. Shut up.’ . . . It was a nightmare. . . . It seemed like it lasted forever.” She’d gone to the river in search of solitude. “I was in kind of a sad mood and the river is calming,” the 5-foot-6, 115-pound woman said. Jonathan Stewart, 25, took a seat next to her on a bench near Harrison and West Sts. about 5:15 a.m. and began chatting with her about her iPhone, the victim and police said. “I could see his bloodshot eyes. He asked me what was wrong. I was just like, ‘I had a bad night.’ He started hiccupping and his eyes were really red.” NYPD Detectives and members of the Crime Scene Unit investigate the site of an alleged rape on a bench in Hudson River Park near Harrison St., Saturday, September 22, 2012, Manhattan, NY. She realized the danger and tried to walk away. But he grabbed her, dragging her into some nearby bushes, where he raped and choked her, she said. After about 20 to 30 minutes, she said she was able to break free. “I started screaming,” she said. “I was completely naked and running in the middle of the park.” He’d smashed her phone so she couldn’t call 911, but she found two Parks Department cops, who broadcast the suspect’s description. NYPD officers collared Stewart, a 5-foot-8, 131-pound homeless man, nearby. The woman, who moved to New York four years ago and said she’s landed some TV roles, was treated at Beth Israel Medical Center and released. Stewart — a registered Level III sex offender who was freed from prison last year after serving a seven-year stint for robbing and assaulting a woman in 2004 — was charged with rape, sex abuse, assault and forcible touching. Jonathan Stewart, accused of raping a woman in Hudson River Park earlier in the day, is removed from the 1st Precinct by NYPD officers. He appeared disheveled and remained silent, eyes to the ground, as cops walked him to a squad car outside the 1st Precinct about 7 p.m. Saturday. “I’m a good person,” the young woman said. “I was trying to get on his moral side.”