Alleged rapist accused of giving Queens woman 3 choices – Death, rape or sex with her son

A man is accused of posing as a construction worker and raping a Queens woman after giving her the choice of being killed, having sex with him, or being forced to have sex with her son. 

The Queens District Attorney’s Office say that Joshua Henderson, 33, of Brooklyn, is facing charges of first-degree rape, first-and-second-degree burglary and first-and-second-degree robbery. 

Authorities say that Henderson dressed up as a construction worker, wearing a hard hat, yellow reflective vest and work boots, and knocked on the victim’s door just after 5 p.m. in Howard Beach on September 16. The victim was told by Henderson that there was work being done on the roof and instructed her to close the curtains. He then allegedly climbed into the woman’s bedroom through a window, and when she walked into the room ordered her to drop her cell phone.

Henderson then told the woman he had a gun and proceeded to tie up both the woman and her adult son before grabbing jewelry, cash and other items from the residence. 

According to Acting Queens District Attorney John M. Ryan, the suspect then told the woman that she had three choices: “I can choke you and kill you with this pillow, you can have sex with me or I will force you to have sex with your son.”

He then forced the woman’s son into a nearby bathroom locking him inside and then allegedly raped the woman. 

"This was a horrible attack,” Ryan said in a statement. “The victim was given an impossible choice by the defendant, who allegedly threatened to shoot her and then proceeded to sexually assault her - as the woman’s adult son was bound and locked in a nearby room. Everyone deserves to not only feel safe and secure in their home, but to actually be safe. This defendant is now in custody and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. If the charges are proven true, he deserves nothing less than to be locked away from society for an extremely long time.”

If convicted, Henderson faces up to 25 years in prison.