MANHATTAN — A man convicted of following a 19-year-old woman from a SoHo subway station to her Prince Street apartment and then raping her at knifepoint in 2008 was sentenced Tuesday to 25 years to life in prison, the maximum allowed by law.
Bronx resident Andres Suarez, 30, also received 20 years of parole after a jury found him guilty on Nov. 27, 2012, of rape, predatory sexual assault and burglary.
Early the morning of May 28, 2008, Suarez followed the teen onto the subway. When she exited at the Spring Street C/E station, he followed her home. When she opened the door of her building, Suarez rushed inside, followed her upstairs and eventually dragged her into the courtyard of her building, where he raped her and threatened her with a boxcutter.
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance thanked the woman Tuesday for speaking out against her attacker.
“Because of her courageous testimony and the power of DNA evidence, this victim can now be assured that her attacker will be off the streets and behind bars for a very long time," Vance said in a statement.
Suarez roamed free for three years after the rape. He was caught after a DNA sample collected after his conviction for another crime matched evidence in the New York State DNA Database that was collected after the rape, prosecutors said.
The victim, now 24 and living in Europe, said in a statement submitted to Manhattan Supreme Court that she is still recovering from the brutal attack, the New York Daily News reported.
"I am still now, four years later, picking up the pieces of myself and trying to put them back together," the woman said.
Suarez offered an apology at his sentencing, the News reported.
"I would like to ask for forgiveness to the [victim]," he said through a Spanish interpreter.
