Pa. man charged with badly beating woman at NYC bar after she allegedly rejected his advances

Pa. man charged with badly beating woman at NY bar

NEW YORK — A construction worker from Pennsylvania was charged Friday with brutally beating and attempting to rape a woman in a restroom at a New York City bar after she rejected his advances.

The man, identified as 30-year-old Mbarek Lafrem, of Norwood, Pa., was charged with assault and attempted rape, chief police spokesman Paul Browne said. Lafrem made statements implicating himself in the beating, Browne said.

Lafrem had been working at a midtown construction site and was staying at a hotel near Social, a three-story bar and lounge on Eighth Avenue in midtown Manhattan. Co-workers called police after seeing Lafrem in a video walking down the sidewalk after the attack, Browne said.

Police picked up Lafrem on Friday at the construction site. A phone number listed for him in Norwood was disconnected Friday.

The attack occurred at around 2 a.m. Thursday at Social, where the 29-year-old victim, a nurse, had gone with a friend, authorities said.

The woman told police that she had rebuffed attempts by the man to dance with her. When she went to the women’s restroom on the second floor, the man followed her and burst into a stall, she told police

The man beat the victim until she was unconscious. Her friend later found her in the stall and called 911, believing she might have fallen.

The woman was hospitalized with a broken eye socket, broken jaw and other injuries. When she regained consciousness, she told hospital workers she had been attacked.

Investigators believe Lafrem also tried to sexually assault the victim, Browne said. The Associated Press generally doesn’t name potential victims of sexual assault.

A phone message left at the bar was not immediately returned. Calls to the Manhattan’s District Attorney’s office to find out whether Lafrem has an attorney were not immediately returned.