The mother of Zymere Perkins testified Monday that she whipped her son with a belt and beat him on several occasions years before her ex-boyfriend allegedly beat him to death in a Harlem apartment.

Geraldine Perkins, 29, testified at the trial of her ex-lover, Rysheim Smith, that she abused Zymere when he was 3 years old while she was living at a shelter for drug addicts.

“I would yell at him or I would beat him with a belt,” she said of Zymere.

“He’d cry,” she added.

Geraldine pleaded guilty to manslaughter and agreed to testify against her ex-boyfriend in exchange for a two-to-six-year prison sentence. She’s already served three years for which she’ll get credit.

A counselor at the shelter witnessed the abuse and told Perkins if she did it again, she’d have to report her.

“That was the last time until I met Rysheim,” she said of the beating.

Prosecutors have argued that Rysheim Smith, 45, starved and tortured the boy for months until his little body gave out on Sept. 26, 2016.

Geraldine’s testimony in court on Monday was the first time Perkins had laid eyes on Smith since the slaying.

Geraldine told jurors that she gave birth to Zymere shortly after graduating high school — but just seven months later her grandmother kicked her out of her house.

“My grandmother accused me of beating my son,” she said.

The young mom briefly turned to prostitution before lying about a crack addiction to get into a drug shelter.

She first met Smith in May 2015, and he swept her off her feet, buying her flowers and gifts.

“It was wonderful,” Geraldine recalled. “He was a father figure for my child. He played with him. He cut his hair most of the time. He bought toys for him. He read the Bible to him.”

She and Zymere moved into Smith’s filthy Harlem apartment, where he was illegally squatting.

Smith started terrorizing the boy, prosecutors alleged. In addition to vicious beatings, Smith allegedly forced Zymere to take frigid showers and relieve himself in a bucket in the living room. An autopsy later revealed that the child had endured more than 30 rib fractures.

Her testimony is scheduled to continue Tuesday morning.

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