Sep 18, 2009 12:35 pm US/Eastern
D.A.: Video Gets Hofstra 'Rape Victim' To Recant
Nassau Co. District Attorney Kathleen Rice Considering Charges Against 18-Year-Old Danmell Ndonye
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Four men wrongly accused in a gang rape at Hofstra University on Sunday were released September 16, 2009, as the alleged victim told prosecutors she made it all up.
CBS
The Nassau County District Attorney is now considering filing charges against the woman behind the rape hoax at Hofstra University.
Danmell Ndonye, 18, has left the campus, and is believed to be in seclusion at her father's apartment in Upper Manhattan.
The Nassau County DA. called the suspended Hofstra freshman a "very troubled woman in need of help," and apparently her boyfriend would agree.
In an interview with the New York Post, the unidentified boyfriend from the Hempstead campus explained why he thinks Ndonye made up of the story of gang rape in a toilet stall. The boyfriend said that "she probably felt like 'they'll think I'm a slut'" if anyone, including her boyfriend, found out she had consensual sex with five men she'd just met.
The boyfriend then described the sequence of events that notorious night. The two had been dancing at an on-campus club, Hofstra USA, when a fight broke out and they got separated. The boyfriend went back to his dorm and waited for his girlfriend to return. When she finally did, the boyfriend said she looked disheveled and he questioned where she'd been for so long. When she said, in a calm voice, that she'd been raped, he had trouble believing her.
"Then she started crying, 'I was raped.' She lied to me. I think she was embarrassed," the boyfriend said.
The boyfriend said he convinced her to call police.
The DA says it may be weeks before they decide if Ndonye will be charged with filing a false report.
"What's important here is that we found the truth. We got her to admit what happened and we put an end to the injustice," said Nassau County DA Kathleen Rice.
One of the four men falsely accused of rape, who's considering a lawsuit, says it still doesn't make sense.
"I am not sure why a person would lie and put four lives at stake," Kevin Taveras said.
Taveras' father says the repercussions from the wrongful arrest will be felt for years.
"Google my son's name and it's a sexual offender," said Kevin's father, Ramiro. "If he's applying for a job, who's going to make sure it doesn't pop up?"
Ndonye, since suspended from Hofstra, is now awaiting word on when her disciplinary hearing at the university will take place.
Prosecutors say she cracked and confessed when the lawyer for two of the four men falsely accused provided a cell phone video that showed consensual sex, and no ropes or screams, as she had initially reported.
The lawyer wouldn't say who recorded the so-called sexcapade, but said it looks "like a porn movie."
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