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Fake Hofstra Rape Claims: Sex, Lies and Videotape
By
Jen Chung
Published Sep 18, 2009
Modified Sep 18, 2009
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By
Jen Chung
Published Sep 18, 2009
Modified Sep 18, 2009
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Details continue to emerge about the now-suspended Hofstra student's fake allegations that she was the victim of a gang rape in a dorm bathroom. Her new boyfriend speaks with the NY Post, giving a possible (disturbing) suggested motive for why Danmell Ndonye lied: Apparently she may have wanted to protect her reputation with him and others, even if it meant accusing five other men of rape.
The boyfriend says he and Ndonye got separated at an on-campus frat party early Sunday. From the Post:
The boyfriend said he called her repeatedly, but she didn't answer her cellphone, so he went to her seventh-floor dorm room at Estabrook Hall. Moments later she appeared.
"As I was about to leave, she comes up and she has no shoes on, she is holding them in her hands. She looked like she just finished hot sex," he said. "I said, 'Where were you? What were you doing?' She told me, 'Nothing.' I said, 'What do you mean, nothing?' "
Ndonye then dropped a bombshell.
"I said, 'Don't lie to me, what's going on?' And she said, 'Oh, I just got raped,' " he said.
"It didn't seem real to me. She was calm," he continued. "Then she started crying and saying, 'I was raped.' She lied to me. I think she was embarrassed. I said to her, 'You have to call public safety.' She hesitated. It seemed like she didn't want to."
She claimed she was okay, but he urged her to call. And that's when she apparently made up her tale that she was lured into the dorm—because one of the men had taken her cellphone—and was tied up and assaulted by five men. However, when the Nassau County prosecutors questioned her Wednesday night, Ndonye admitted there was no rape. Chief sex crimes prosecutor Madeline Singas told reporters, "I said, 'If there is a video, and I get that video, it's going to show me that what you're saying is true?'" Newsday reports, "The 18-year-old woman sat silent for several long moments, Singas said. Then her story veered wildly and fell apart. As soon as the woman admitted she had lied, Singas rushed from the room and picked up the phone. She had only minutes to stop a Nassau detective who was headed to get a warrant signed for evidence in the case, and then to arrest a fifth man in the case."
Prosecutors had not seen the video during the questioning (just heard about it) but later saw it and believe the sex was consensual. While the freed men are relieved, it's unclear whether they'll be able to fully regain their innocence. One returned home to find out he was fired from his job at Cablevision because of the charges (Newsday later found out that he will be reinstated). His dad said, "Google my son's name and it's a sexual offender. If he's applying for a job, who's going to make sure it doesn't pop up."
Newsday columnist Joye Brown has five questions that still standout about the case, including, "1. The young men are free from jail. And free from false allegations of rape. But at the least, they were involved in an ugly incident - sex acts being performed by multiple young men and an 18-year-old freshman in a college dorm men's bathroom - and one of them used a cell phone camera to record part of the proceedings. The men did nothing illegal, but that doesn't make the behavior any less despicable," and "3. One woman's lie could have sent five innocent young men to state prison for up to 25 years."
Tagged
cellphone video
Danmell Ndonye
hofstra
made up story
nassau county police
rape allegation
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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