Witness says she was kidnapped; Man charged with knife-point rape, beating of prostitute.

• Position: LOCAL NEWS

Byline: Gary V. Murray

WORCESTER - A woman with a history of prostitution convictions told a Worcester Superior Court jury yesterday she was kidnapped, beaten and raped by Eric Rios last year after he forced her into his car at knife point.

While acknowledging that she was found guilty of prostitution in 2004, 2008 and 2010, and that she has similar charges now pending against her, the 36-year-old mother of two testified that she was not working as a prostitute on the morning of Jan. 21, 2010, when she encountered a man she later learned was Mr. Rios on Gardner Street.

The woman said she was on her way to a friend's house to get ready for a Worcester Housing Court appearance later in the morning when Mr. Rios pulled up near her in a car about 7:15 a.m., got out, confronted her with a knife and forced her into the vehicle after snatching her cellphone from her hand.

She said Mr. Rios drove to an ATM and a CVS store in the Rice Square area, then parked at the corner of Arlington and Winthrop streets. The woman told the jury Mr. Rios held the knife to her side and forced her to accompany him to a third-floor apartment at 7 Winthrop St.

Once they were inside, Mr. Rios beat her, pulled her hair, removed her clothing and sexually assaulted her, she testified.

"He started abusing me. He started hitting me. I was fighting back, but it wasn't working. He was wild. It was crazy," said the woman, the first witness called by Assistant District Attorney Joseph J. Reilly Jr. at Mr. Rios' trial on charges of armed kidnapping with sexual assault, assault and battery with a...