Serial rapist gets effective life sentence after monstrous torment of elderly NYC woman who says ‘survival is a miracle’

A serial rapist was slapped with an effective life sentence after he tormented and strangled an 81-year-old Manhattan woman who bravely said in court Wednesday her “survival is a miracle.”  

Career criminal Avon Long, 79, received a 32-years-to-life prison sentence for barging into the octogenarian’s apartment where he forced himself on top of her and covered her mouth during a sickening sexual assault that lasted for more than an hour nearly two years ago.

The survivor, now 83, stared down the twisted offender in Manhattan Criminal Court and encouraged the judge to throw the book at Long, who whined the trial had been traumatizing for him.

“His monstrous and evil career will be no more, never ever and again – no more victims such as myself, no more nightmares [and] no more freedom for Avon Long to be evil and do evil and seriously injure his victims,” she said surrounded by loved ones in a powerful victim impact statement ahead of sentencing.

Avon Long will likely spend the rest of his life in prison. NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services Sex Offender Registry

The sickening attack took place in October 2023, in which Long ordered the victim to undress and lie down on her bed inside her apartment at a senior center home before carrying out his assault, prosecutors said.

When he was done, he used a phone charger cord to bind her wrists and warned her not to call police until he had enough time to flee. The cruel culprit left the apartment, but returned soon after to strangle the woman until she lost consciousness.

“I was treated as the defenseless animal by a male human being who turned into a vicious animal named Avon Long,” said the victim.

“From beginning to end I was haunted … wanting to do everything he said to do without interference because he was capable of killing me.”

“My survival is a miracle,” she added.

Long has spent decades behind bars for sexual assaults dating back to the late 1960s when he pleaded guilty to a count each of rape and robbery.

That sentence lasted 10 years, but he committed more sexual violence in 1979 and was again locked up for a pair of rapes until 2015, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

He was convicted in May on a slew of charges, including kidnapping, burglary, attempted rape, sexual abuse and strangulation in the most recent case.

The elderly victim was in the hospital for two weeks and described the immense “aches and pain from head to toe” she dealt with.

Still, she said she has to “remember to forgive” and that “God created him, too.”

“Get yourself out of the way and look in your own mirror and ask God to help you, please,” she told Long.

Meanwhile, Long seemed primarily concerned about himself, complaining the trial has been “very difficult, stressful, painful.”

“I really feel sorry for the victim. I still feel sorry for her,” the pervert said, adding, “I am traumatized. This has been very horrific for me.”

But Judge Juan Merchan ripped into Long for the bizarre complaints and called him “without a doubt, the most prolific rapist that this court has ever seen.”

“You created that trauma,” he told Long. “Frankly, I’m outraged that you would dare say you were traumatized.”

He said it’s reasonable to believe Long intended to kill the victim when he strangled her.

District Attorney Alvin Bragg said he hopes the lengthy prison sentence – in which the victim would not get out of jail until he’s well over 100 years old – delivered closure to the victim.

“This defendant horrifically abused a defenseless, 81-year-old woman, which was proven through the survivor’s honest and unwavering testimony at trial,” he said.