Husband...
Rapist...
An avenging husband savagely beat a would-be rapist to death with a tire iron after the man attacked his wife inside their Bronx apartment, police sources said Tuesday.
Career criminal Earl Nash became a crime statistic Monday night in a violent throwdown with Mamadou Diallo inside an blood-spattered elevator at the Claremont Village apartment building, sources said.
Nash, 43, was bolting from the Diallo apartment when the 61-year-old cab driver arrived — rushing to the building after a desperate call for help from his battered wife, sources said.
“While it was going on, I was thinking I was going to die,” Nenegale Diallo told the Daily News about the ordeal that left her naked and terrified in the hallway.
Mamadou Diallo took the elevator to the sixth floor — and when the doors opened, he spied Nash standing in the hallway.
“I see my husband, I say, ‘That’s him! Don’t let him out!’” the wife told The News.
Diallo and Nash began brawling, leaving blood in the hallway and the elevator. Sources said Nash beat Diallo with a belt as the husband bashed him in the head and body with the tire iron.
Nash suffered a fractured skull, and died at Lincoln Hospital.
“Self-defense,” claimed Mamadou Diallo, who was charged with manslaughter in the fatal fracas. “He threatened my wife, he threatened my wife.”
The bespectacled Diallo emerged from the 42nd Precinct in handcuffs, a red collared shirt and a white Tyvek suit from the waist down.
His wife said she thought her son was home when she heard pounding on the front door around 9 p.m. She was greeted instead by the crazed Nash, who forced his way inside and started dropping his pants.
“I’ll give you money,” the wife said.
“I don’t wan’t money,” Nash replied. “I’m going to rape you.”
The wife told The News that Nash then tore off all her clothes and bashed her repeatedly in the head with a chair as she fought for her life.
Diallo’s brother insisted that Nash instigated the lethal brawl.
“The guy punched him, he started fighting,” Ibrahima Diallo, 52, told the Daily News. “... This man said he’s gonna kill him, kill his family.”
Lyft driver Mamadou Diallo instead killed Nash, who had 19 prior arrests. He was released from prison just last year after serving nine years for bribery and drug possession.
Neighbors in the building defended Diallo’s response to the attack on his 51-year-old wife.
“He has a right to defend his wife,” said Katiatou Diallo, 38, who was not related to Mamadou. “What are you going to do if somebody comes in and tries to rape your wife?”
Amadu Kamara said Diallo, a native of Guinea in West Africa, was a quiet man who never caused any problems in the building.
“He seemed like a fine gentleman,” said Kamara, 47. “He’s a hard-working person. You don’t see him getting into any kind of trouble.”
According to Ibrahima Diallo, his brother’s wife and her sister fought with Nash for 20 minutes.
“He came in and punched her,” said Ibrahima Diallo. “He came in, locked the door and started fighting.”
The wife fought him off, called her husband in his cab, and he rushed into the building. Nenegale Diallo was treated and released at a local hospital.
Nash “said a lot of bad words,” said Nenegale. “He hit me too much. He takes the chair, he hits me in the head.”
Nash was paroled from prison on July 20, 2015. His most recent arrest was May 14 for aggravated harassment, sources said.
His previous arrests included drugs, arson, unlawful imprisonment, robbery and assault. In one particularly heinous 2003 case, he pleaded guilty to unlawful imprisonment for holding a 17-year-old girl captive for two days.
Authorities charged that the teen was sexually abused, stabbed and beaten — suffering a black eye, lacerations and a dislocated shoulder.
Gregory Williams, a longtime pal of Nash, described the dead man as like a brother to him.
“He was one of a kind,” said Williams, 45. “I can’t say anything bad about that gentleman.”