Saturday’s horrific knifepoint rape in Central Park was the fifth sex attack in the iconic green space so far this year, leaving locals terrified.
A woman was approached by an armed thug around 8:30 p.m. near East 67th Street and Fifth Avenue, dragged into a wooded area in the famous Manhattan park and sexually assaulted before her attacker fled, authorities said.
It does not appear the victim knew her attacker, law-enforcement sources told The Post on Sunday, citing the preliminary investigation.
“I typically avoid coming to Central Park at night,” admitted Jetmir Shala, a 37-year-old resident manager who lives nearby, to The Post.
“I mean, look, I’m 6-6, 240 [pounds], you know? I can defend myself. But the thing is, if it’s my wife, I tell her to stay away.
“Where I’m at, Lenox Hill, it’s typically safe,” he said of the neighborhood near the scene. “But Central Park, we always hear about these stories that’s going on, so it kind of just makes you second-guess if you wanna go in or not.”
NYPD crime statistics show that the latest attack was the fifth since the start of the year inside the department’s Central Park Precinct — up from three rapes in the same region by this time last year.
Citywide rape reports have meanwhile increased nearly 3%, with 1,693 through Oct. 18 this year compared to 1,650 over the same span in 2025.
Rapes and subway and hate crimes have bucked the citywide trend that has seen most major crimes dropping, including historic lows in assaults and murders.
Police brass attribute the bump in rape reports to changes in state law that expanded the legal definition of what constitutes rape — but it’s a distinction that does little to appease New Yorkers near the park.
Locals around Central Park said vagrants tend to take over benches in some sections of the city oasis, while blind spots along several paths make it a risky proposition to venture on them, particularly at night.
“I’ve been coming to New York for most of my life, and I just have been told over the years to never go in the park at dark,” said retired executive Shirley Kessel, 65. “That’s how I grew up thinking.
“There’s certain streets you don’t walk down in New York City at night, and you don’t go in the park.”
Marketing executive Anna Brockway, 55, who lives part-time across the street from the park, said she sees “a lot of guys who kind of crash out there, drinking, sleeping.
“At night, when I walk my dog, I go around the corner,” she said. “I try not to walk next to the park.”
A 42-year-old Manhattanite who asked to remain anonymous said it’s not just about the park.
“The whole city, I’m just getting a weird vibe from the last couple of years,” he said. “I don’t know. Nobody gives a f–k anymore.”
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