A Manhattan man convicted of raping a transgender woman inside an apartment stairwell in 2022 was ordered Tuesday to spend the next 12 years in state prison.
Nicholas Encarnacion was brought before Judge Kathryn Paek on the afternoon of Aug. 26, his hands handcuffed behind his back. He was dressed in khaki color prison garb, his long hair pinned behind his back. He looked up through his glasses as he waited to learn his fate.
Encarnacion’s victim, Siobhan Ebert, also appeared in court for the sentencing of her rapist. According to court documents, the pair were once neighbors and lived in the same Two Bridges apartment on the Lower East Side.
At around 10:30 p.m. on Oct. 9, 2022, law enforcement sources said, Ebert had just left dinner with her fiancé and friends and headed back to her apartment when the violent encounter occurred.
As Ebert entered the building’s elevator, prosecutors said, Encarnacion followed and stood in the doorway, preventing the doors from closing before making advances. After rejecting the approach by telling him that her fiancé was waiting for her upstairs, he boarded the elevator.
During the ride, Encarnacion forced himself on Ebert, kissing and groping her. Court papers show that Ebert tried to make a getaway by leaving the elevator, but Encarnacion gave chase and shoved her into a stairwell, where he pushed her to the ground and raped her.
Ebert was treated for pain, bleeding, and inflammation; Encarnacion, meanwhile, was arrested that night.
During the sentencing hearing, Ebert did not mince words in unleashing her wrath at her convicted attacker.
“I hate you. You ruined my life,” Ebert said, facing Encarnacion.
Following Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Ebert’s testimony at trial was critical toward helping “ensure accountability for this defendant.”
“This victim’s night out ended in horror when she was brutally raped in the stairwell of her apartment building,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said. “She continues to suffer the long-term physical and emotional consequences of this incident, and I hope that she can fully heal and recover.”
