A 70-year-old Australian woman visiting her daughter in the Big Apple was randomly assaulted by an unhinged stranger who was sprung weeks earlier for doing the same thing, The Post has learned.
Grandmother Ann Difabio entered the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall Subway Station last Thursday afternoon only to be backhanded by a 25-year-old man police later identified as Ryan Smalls, according to Difabio and police.
It was her first trip to Gotham in a decade and she was 24 days into her month-long visit.
“As I was going down the stairs I took one step,” said Difabio, who lives in Adelaide, Australia. “I saw him coming up but he looked completely normal. The next thing you know, it was ‘whack.’ My head turned all the way around. I could feel all my teeth had shifted.”
Difabio was on an uptown jaunt with her daughter when they encountered Smalls. “He was screaming profanities. With his hand he did a gun motion. He said, ‘you bitch, I’m going to kill you.’”
Difabio got lucky — unlike in the case of a lot of other random attacks — because she wasn’t seriously injured and cops nabbed Smalls.
“He was lighting up a joint in their face while they were arresting him,” said Difabio’s daughter, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retribution.
Smalls pleaded not guilty to felony assault charges for injuring a victim 65 or older, assault with intent to cause physical injury and menacing, court documents indicate.
He is expected back in court June 17.
Smalls was also arrested May 1 inside the subway station at East 53rd Street and Lexington Avenue. He pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor assault. The judge granted the district attorney’s request for supervised release. Smalls’ next court date in that case is June 20.
As for Difabio returning to New York City, she said she’s “not going to come back for a while.”
