Husband 'beats wife's attempted rapist to death'

Woman used her phone to call her husband during fight with her attacker

The Bronx apartment block where the attack happened (Google)

A man who forced his way into a New York apartment and told a woman “I don’t want money, I’m going to rape you”, has been beaten to death by her husband, according to police.

Earl Nash, 43, reportedly pushed past the woman who opened her door because she thought her children were returning home, and locked himself into the apartment.

During a fight also involving the woman’s sister, Nash reportedly hit the woman with a chair, but with the help of her sister she managed to use her phone to call her husband.

According to local news outlet DNAinfo the woman said: “I took my phone and see my husband's number first. I pressed the number. I made a loud noise, screaming, 'Please, help me. Help me. Call the police.' Then he slapped me again. The phone is falling, but I was making noise so my husband could hear the noise.”

While her husband was on his way, the woman reportedly escaped the apartment and alerted her neighbours.

“I came to the hallway and made a lot of noise. Everybody opened the door because they heard the noise,” she said. “I see my husband. I say, 'That's him! Don't let him go out! Please, hold the elevator!'”

The woman’s husband, believed to be from Guinea, then attacked Nash, who subsequently died in hospital.

According to the Bronx District Attorney’s office, no charges have been drawn up yet, and officials are waiting on the cause of death.

New York Police Department said Nash has been arrested 14 times since 1997, with previous convictions for drug dealing and bribery. It is thought he did not know the woman before the attack.