WASN’T 1ST TIME FOR AX MANIAC

Grieving mom of survivor says daughter lived in fear, was trying to quit relationship

The mom of a young Brooklyn woman clinging to life after her boyfriend hacked her head, face and chest with an ax told the Daily News in an exclusive interview Monday that the weapon-wielding maniac had previously been violent toward her daughter.

“I believe she was afraid because this is not the first time he’s actually attacked her,” Jessica Cruz told The News, expressing outrage over the rampage that left her daughter Angela Valle, 21, in intensive care and Savannah Rivera, 20, dead. “At some point she was trying to get out of the relationship.”

Rivera was nearly decapitated by Valle’s boyfriend, Jerry Brown, 34, in the Saturday attack inside the Bushwick Houses. Brown later surrendered to cops and was charged with murder, attempted murder and weapons possession.

“I didn’t know anything about the [earlier] attack because my daughter was afraid to tell me about what was really going on behind closed doors,” Cruz said. “I just found out about that myself. When you’re in an abusive relationship, you’re really afraid to speak on it.”

The devastated mother said the two “weren’t in a relationship for that long,” but it was “rocky.”

Brown had also threatened “to kill” Valle’s ex-boyfriend and the father of her child in a fit of jealousy, Cruz said.

“I’m assuming my daughter was trying to get out of the relationship, and he looked at it like she was trying to get back with her daughter’s father, which is not true.”

Cruz isn’t certain what set off the raging attack Saturday, but she said Brown and the two women had argued “while they were all together.”

“It got out of hand and that’s when he did what he did,” Cruz said.

She agonized over Valle, who was fighting for her life at Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens. “My daughter is still in critical condition. She’s just fighting right now,” said Cruz.

“A lot of people are making it seem like she’s up, she’s speaking. No, my daughter is not speaking, she’s still in critical condition. She has a breathing tube and everything, so she’s fighting.”

Cruz added, “Right now, we’re just staying by her side and telling my daughter to hang in there and that she needs to be there for her daughter.”