Cuffed in attack on woman, 83

An ex-con police say beat and tried to rape his 83year-old Bronx neighbor was busted Thursday, police said.

Gary Mallette, 51, was sitting on a bench at the Eighth Avenue/42nd St. subway stop at about 2:15 a.m. when cops recognized him from a wanted poster.

Mallette (photo) was charged with robbery, sexually motivated assault, burglary and unlawful imprisonment.

He conned his way into the elderly victim’s apartment in the Castle Hill Houses on Saturday afternoon by pretending to by a NYCHA repairman, according to cops and the victim.

But the woman fought back as he flung her on the bed.

“I asked him if he had a mother or a sister,” the badly bruised woman told a Daily News reporter from her bed at Jacobi Medical Center last weekend.

“He didn’t answer me. I told him I had an operation on my leg,” she said. “He didn’t care.”

The suspect allegedly punched her, broke her ribs and stole her cell phone and jewelry. He ran off when her cousin and daughter barged into the apartment.

Mallette, a career criminal, has been arrested more than 50 times and has served three state prison sentences dating back to 1992, police sources said.

He was last released from prison in May 2014, when he finished a prison term for drug dealing and attempted robbery.

Mallette’s neighbors in the Castle Hill Houses said he grew up there and is known for break-ins.