July 15, 2007 -- She never laid eyes on him before, and she never wants to again. The bruised and broken brunette accusing City Councilman Dennis Gallagher of a demonic sex assault vowed in exclusive interviews with The Post to "prosecute him until he's behind bars."
"I'm beat up and bruised all over," the 52-year-old woman - a grandmother who works as a cook at a Queens Catholic church - said in the first of two interviews Friday and yesterday near her Queens home.
She said she has bruises all over her body, especially on her back, and showed a reporter nasty purple scabs and contusions on her knees and bruises on the outside of her calves.
"The bruises were worse five days ago," she said. "They are just starting to heal a little bit."
"I'm just hoping that other women come forward," said woman, who still cares for her 35-year-old mentally retarded son at home.
The woman, whose identity is being withheld by The Post, said the terrifying ordeal began innocently last Sunday night, when she met a female friend for dinner at Middle Village watering hole Danny Boy's.
The married, 43-year-old Republican councilman approached them at 5:30 p.m., she said.
Her pal, who is friendly with Gallagher, turned to her and asked, "Don't you know who your councilman is?"
"I said, 'No, and I don't particularly care,' " the accuser recalled.
Gallagher laughed at that and strolled away. The two women continued with their dinner.
The women and Gallagher did not cross paths again inside. The alleged victim however said she encountered the lawmaker - now visibly drunk - outside the bar about three hours later.
What happened next is something the woman refuses to disclose, saying that prosecutors have instructed her not to discuss details of that outside meeting or what it led to.
What she will say is that a brutal sexual attack occurred.
"I was beaten. I was threatened. I was terrorized," the woman said yesterday, adding that Gallagher warned her not to go to the police.
"He threatened me," she said.
Law-enforcement sources said the victim told authorities that after leaving the bar, she got into Gallagher's vehicle and they went to a small office above his district office at 78-25 Metropolitan Ave. in Middle Village.
After the alleged attack, the woman went home and called police, authorities said last week. She then went to a hospital and was examined.
She told The Post that police took photos of her battered body. The next afternoon, on Monday, police searched Gallagher's office for DNA evidence.The 5-foot-6 woman has been active in recent days, walking her dog every few hours and pushing a child on nearby park swing set, despite the half-dollar-size wounds on her knees.
At one point, she wept as she talked to a Post photographer.
And she said she was determined to get justice.
"I just want to heal and forget about it, but I know I can't until he is behind bars," she said.
She called the 5-foot-7, 180-pound Gallagher "arrogant" and "threatening."
He's "a heavy drinker," she said. "Just because he's a politician doesn't make his threats different than anyone else's . . .
"I promise you: I'm going to prosecute him until he's behind bars."
She said she expects Gallagher - a former state Crime Victims Board investigator who describes himself as a "religious, civic-minded, patriotic Republican" on a City Council résumé - to be arrested this week.
"They're waiting for more DNA," she said.
The Queens District Attorney's Office, which is investigating her allegations, declined to comment.
Law-enforcement sources confirmed that DNA evidence is still being gathered and that an arrest is possible. Police were reportedly looking specifically for blood and women's articles when they searched his office.
"I don't ever want to see him again," the woman said.
"I'm a married woman with a handicapped child. I have to protect him."
Gallagher submitted to a DNA test last week. His lawyer, Stephen Mahler, said his client "denies any criminal wrongdoing," and likened his situation to that of the Duke University lacrosse players falsely accused of rape.
His accuser, a mother of two and grandmother of two, scoffed at the comparison.
"He's sick," she said. "He's a sick man."
The church cook vowed to "get more monsignors and more priests" to vouch for her character.
Gallagher, who has two boys with his wife, Donna, has a reputation among some former staffers and neighborhood leaders for drinking and behaving inappropriately with women.
Known as "Pinky" in some circles because he turns a light shade of red when he drinks, Gallagher "always hires good-looking girls," according to one ex-staffer.
