The former Trinidadian Olympian arrested last week and charged with raping two women in Prospect Park in June has admitted that he had sex with his victims, but claims the encounters were consensual, prosecutors said this week.
Alvin Henry, who competed for the island nation at the 2000 Games in Sydney, was nabbed on July 1 after what police say was a five-rape spree that dates back to 2003, when he allegedly raped two women in Queens.
Henry returned to his native country Trinidad for four years, but came back sometime this year, cops said, and sexually assaulted a 15-year-old in Prospect Park near Grand Army Plaza on June 11.
The girl, pretending the encounter was consensual, ended up getting Henry’s cellphone number — a move that began a chain of events that led to Henry’s capture.
Four days after the June 11 attack, and with cops getting closer, Henry struck again, police say, raping a woman who had parked on a quiet Prospect Park roadway with her boyfriend, an off-duty police officer
While the couple was otherwise distracted, Henry approached with a gun, cops said. The couple became separated, and Henry raped the 38-year-old woman, police said.
Even as the tabloids were screaming about the “Lover’s Lane Rapist,” the cops were ready to spring their trap. Calling the number that the prior victim had given them, they lured Henry to an area of the park near Ocean and Parkside avenues.
The 15-year-old made a positive ID and Henry was arrested. DNA samples from the two Prospect Park victims connected the same rapist to all the crimes, police said.
Prosecutors said that Henry’s statement that he had consensual sex connects him to the rapes.
He is being held without bail and is undergoing psychiatric evaluation before his next court date on July 24.
