HAYWARD — Six women who were attacked and raped in the area around downtown Hayward last year are set to testify against Damon Williams at his preliminary hearing, which is expected to last at least a week.

Williams, 31, was arrested Oct. 28 of last year after witnesses identified him as the man they saw attempting to strip clothes off a woman he had knocked to the ground in a parking lot near Jackson and Grand streets. He faces 18 counts on charges that include rape, forcible oral copulation, kidnapping with intent to commit rape, penetration with a foreign object and assault with intent to rape.

His first victim, who testified Thursday and will continue Monday, said the attack occurred while she was walking on the BART pedestrian overpass between Sycamore Avenue and Whitman Street around 2:30 a.m. Feb. 24 of last year.

She was headed home after visiting the downtown area, and the dimly lit overcrossing appeared deserted. When she was about two-thirds of the way across, she was suddenly attacked from behind.

The man put her in a full nelson wrestling hold — interlocking his hands behind her neck — and forced the victim to the ground despite her best efforts to fight him off.

"I tried to punch toward his face, but he shoved my head farther down," the victim said. "I thought the only way out was to grab his pinkies and pry his hands apart."

She said that worked, but in the ensuing grapple, she was pushed

At one point, she broke free and tried to crawl away, but the man dove on top of her.

"He told me if I tried to run, he would shoot me and he would rape me again," she said.

At another point, the rapist became strangely conversational.

"He asked if I had a boyfriend, he asked what I was doing walking around," she said. "To me, it sounded like he was trying to talk to someone who was consenting to sex."

The victim said she got a clear look at the rapist's face when he straddled her chest. She identified Williams as her attacker, although she said "back then he didn't have facial hair, and his hair was a lot shorter."

Williams, who is 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds, lived at an apartment in the Kelly Hill neighborhood, where one of the victims was attacked. Other victims — many of them homeless women who were attacked during the early-morning hours in the downtown area — have picked him out of a photo lineup.

According to police reports, Williams' DNA matched a sample taken from a victim, and he was in possession of property that was stolen from one of the women.

The preliminary examination will resume at 9:30 a.m. Monday in Dept. 509 at the Hayward Hall of Justice.

Eric Kurhi covers Hayward. Reach him at 510-293-2473.