HAVERHILL, Mass. – A jury has awarded $6.6 million to a Massachusetts woman in a civil lawsuit rape case against the management of the Radisson Hotel in downtown Boston where she was assaulted by a homeless man more than six years ago.

The verdict for Kira Wahlstrom, 41, a teacher’s aide, was delivered in Boston Tuesday by the Suffolk County Superior Court jury. It includes $2.6 million in interest for a case that dragged on in court for five years.

Lawyers for the defense said the highest previous award in a civil rape case in Massachusetts was $1.25 million.

Wahlstrom sued the hotel for negligence and inadequate security in an adjacent parking garage where the rape took place in the early morning hours of May 1, 2009.

Her case was based on another rape occurring in the same garage 12 days earlier, with no notice to garage customers or hotel guests, and no security guards present in the garage at the time of her rape.

The homeless man, Ruben Rivera III, pleaded guilty to both rapes and is serving a 15-year prison sentence.

“Aside from murder, rape is the worst thing that can happen to a human being,” said Don Keenan, Wahlstrom’s lawyer, in closing arguments. “This was clearly a preventable event that didn’t have to happen.”

JPA 1 Management Co. Inc. and JPA IV Management Co. Inc., operators of the hotel, said they did not disclose the first rape because Boston police warned that would jeopardize the investigation. They said they did increase security measures.

Lawyers for Wahlstrom said she was attacked after exiting a garage elevator around 2:30 a.m. They said she was grabbed by her hair from behind, dragged into a stairwell and attack for 25 minutes. She was returning to her car at the end of her shift at a nearby nightclub where she handled lighting.

“I’m happy with the choice the jury made,” Wahlstrom told the Boston Globe. “I hope I can start to move on and close this chapter of my life.”