Patz slay witness’ tale is hit

A 76-YEAR-OLD man who says he heard the accused killer of Etan Patz confess at a religious farm retreat in 1979 was forced to defend glaring inconsistencies in his accounts on Tuesday.

Ramon Rodriguez is one of the Manhattan district attorney’s office’s key witnesses to what was allegedly a conscience-clearing admission by a young Pedro Hernandez at a New Jersey Charismatic Christians gathering.

Rodriguez said he knew Hernandez, now 55, had a burden to share because God spoke to him and told him so. Hernandez is on trial for allegedly kidnapping and murdering Etan, who was 6 when he disappeared in May 1979.

Rodriguez said Hernandez admitted that he choked and stabbed the boy while working at a grocery store in New York City because he “abused” the boy and wanted to keep him quiet. The defense pointed out that Rodriguez initially told cops there’d been no abuse.