A homeless repeat offender with a rape conviction on his record tried to shield his mug from shutterbugs Friday night after NYPD nabbed him for allegedly ambushing and assaulting a 12-year-old girl in the stairwell of her public housing building just a day earlier.

Eric McMichael, 27, rocked a gray plaid shirt, gray shorts and bizarre thick white tights as he hunched forward like a coward, dodging flashes while detectives hauled him out of the Brooklyn Special Victims precinct to face rape and sex abuse rap.

The brute stands accused of sneaking into the Cooper Park Houses on Morgan Avenue near Jackson Street in Williamsburg around 5:45 p.m. Thursday, where he pounced on the seventh-grader as she headed to a nearby store.

Cops say McMichael – a total stranger staying at a Greenpoint shelter two miles away – growled “I’m going to violate you” before slamming her to the ground, forcing her to bend over and carrying out the vicious attack.

He bolted when another resident showed up in the stairwell, leaving the traumatized kid behind. EMS rushed her to a hospital in stable condition.

The girl’s devastated mom spilled her guts to the Daily News: “My baby is in shock. My daughter will never be the same. She’s a dancer. She sings. She does hair. She’s only in the seventh grade. I want justice.”

Tipsters blew the case wide open after cops plastered McMichael’s face across Crime Stoppers – a shelter resident recognized the dreadlocked fiend from laundromat surveillance footage.

Detectives swooped in Friday afternoon, slapping him with two counts of rape, two counts of sexual abuse, burglary and endangering the welfare of a child. Arraignment was pending in Brooklyn Criminal Court as of Saturday.

This creep’s rap sheet reads like a nightmare: Busted in 2019 for forcing his way into a woman’s Staten Island pad, raping her and swiping her phone. He copped a plea in 2021 to first-degree sexual abuse and burglary, dodging hard time with a promise of five years’ probation if he finished a mental health program.

He blew that deal, never completing the course – but walked free without bail anyway.

Then in 2023, he jacked a livery cab in downtown Brooklyn, pleading guilty and facing three years behind bars for both the carjacking and the old rape. Sentencing got kicked down the road – adjourned July 16 and set for this past Thursday in Richmond County, the same week he allegedly struck again.

Sources say he’s got four prior convictions total, including grand larceny and robbery bumps in 2023.

NYPD’s Special Victims Unit reviewed building cams and nearby footage showing McMichael lurking pre-attack in a dark gray sweatshirt, black pants, black-and-white kicks and a striped backpack.

The shelter tip sealed his fate – cops dragged him from the Greenpoint spot straight to lockup.

Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez’s office is handling the prosecution, vowing to throw the book.

Community’s reeling in East Williamsburg’s NYCHA complex – moms hugging kids tighter, demands for better security echoing halls where this horror went down.

Big Apple’s rape stats jumped 17% this year, cops blaming broader definitions under new laws – 1,720 probes as of last Sunday.

McMichael’s perp walk pics – courtesy Robert Mecea – show the hunched hunch, head down, trying to vanish from the lens as flashbulbs popped.

One snap captures him center frame, cops on each arm, face buried like he knows the world’s watching.

Victim’s fam staying anonymous to shield the kid, but mom’s words hit hard: “She’s my baby.”

Advocates blasting the system for letting this predator roam – plea deals, delays, no bail releases adding up to tragedy.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny praised the quick tip: “Community eyes made the difference.”

As McMichael cools in custody awaiting his day in court, questions swirl: How many adjournments does it take? How free is too free for guys like this?

The little dancer who sings and styles hair? She’s fighting to heal, while the city grapples with yet another stairwell nightmare in public housing.

Stay locked – arraignment drops soon, and this one’s got Brooklyn buzzing for all the wrong reasons.