Fake Hofstra Rape Claims: Sex, Lies and Videotape

2009_09_hofac.jpg
From the covers of Newsday (left) and NY Post
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."

Email This Entry


Comments (39) [rss]

Newsday columnist Joye Brown needs to get real. What is despicable about 5 guys on a girl? Certainly it isn't my cup of tea but it was legal and consensual. She's clearly a horses ass. What people want to do behind closed doors is their business.

Seriously, Joye Brown probably descends from a long line of pedophiles and finds fault with adults having sex.

Not to mention that none of her "Questions" are phrased as questions.... just her spouting off judgement. What a tool.

Keep on fucking that dickchicken.

it's one thing to be a dirty ho bag. its something completely different when you destroy several other lives when you know you're a dirty ho bag

Well Danmell, if you don't to ruin your reputation keep your chubby little legs closed. But, if you want to ruin the repuation of real rape victims and black men everywhere this would definately be the way to do it. Nice going!
By the way, where the hell is Al Sharpton? Five black men were just fasely accused of rape, for crying out loud?! Is he still tweeting minute to minute updates from MJ's graveside?

No white people to fault = no Fat Albert.

They're not 5 black men. 4 of them are hispanic.

True, but I would be willing to bet that all four of them are at least partially decended from carribean slave trade ancestory. It's always dicey to make those distinctions but, there are people of patial or full African ethnicity who have Spanish names because they are culturally Latino. If someone were decribing "the man who raped her" she might say they're black. Not accurate, but I'd also be willing to bet that Fat Al will dub them "members of the community" which, in Alspeak means "if you're kinda brown you might as well be black when it suits my purpose".

I think it would be a conflict of interest for the good Reverend. He usually sides with the female on these, even when they are lying.

Dammit, I still want to know if it was really a gangbang, or if it was just one or two guys while the others watched.

Well, I want to know what this "new boyfriend" is all about and why he doesn't seem all that disturbed by any of this. Also, what will this do to Hofstra admissions this year?
*Clutches pearls, purses lips*
Oaky, this old biddy is off to make her caserole now!

It was probably a train. 5 people couldn't have sex in bathroom stall at once.

Am I really discussing this? LOL

Yes please stop, she's busted.

user-pic

It was the 5 express train.

user-pic

Making local stops to hoeville.

user-pic

I think there's a Hoe Avenue in the Bronx too.

He's still holding onto that "new boyfriend" title, eh? Must like that old stank ditch smell.

If only she'd been honest in the first place, just a handful of people would know about her reputation.

By being a cum dumpster for these men she was doing a service for society. These men would have committed multiple crimes if they did not have the release.

Perhaps you wouldn't be victimized so often if you didn't spend all of your time hiding under a bridge.

i am sure grandma would be proud

But she's a good girl, her 40-year old grandma said so.

Pity they didn't grill Tawana the same way they did Danmell.

Pity they didn't drill Tawana the same way either.

Maybe the fellas can get a summer internship at Rikers.

Amongst all the sexist commentary, no one is mentioning the fact that if there wasn't such a double standard about women being sexually promiscuous this probably wouldn't have happened in the first place. The main issue is that this girl lied and potentially ruined 5 people's lives because she was afraid of being labeled a slut.

I already wrote that in the other thread.

I would argue that being "sexually promiscuous" and having many partners is quite different from being gangbanged by five dudes in a bathroom stall. I think you would be hard-pressed to find anyone - liberal, feminist, or whatever, who wouldn't consider that slutty behavior.

The real criminal here is the "new boyfriend". She lied in order to save face in front of him.

"A cell phone video of a portion of the sexual activity was key to gaining the young woman's confession. If not for the video - taken by one of the woman's alleged sex partners - four young men could still be in jail today."

found here: http://twurl.cc/1m5g

Women's Studies at Hofstra have sure changed since the days of those grainy pictures of Andrea Dworkin burning her XXL bra and panties.

So when will the Nassau County prosecutor's office officially filing charges against her for filing a false police report? Women can do this all day long. Point, and accuse, whether the target of their acusations is innocent or guilty, and the Nassau County DA's office will not only condone it but encourage it.

user-pic

I REALLY hate sluts and liars.

Every girl any guy is with is a gamble. Any one-night stand can be a ton of fun or a ton of fun with a 25 year jail sentence. I went through something like this-the girl was threatening to blow everything up after it was just a one-night thing. I acted like it was nothing and said go for it. She didn't but I truly knew she could have me put away for nothing but having consensual sex with her. Scary-it's almost like you are better off screwing in public so you have witnesses to consensual sex in case the girl decides to ruin your life.

Post a comment (Comment Policy)

Tips

Get your daily dose of New York first thing in the morning from our weekday newsletter, now in beta.

About Gothamist

Gothamist is a website about New York. More

Editor: Jen Chung
Publisher: Jake Dobkin

Newsmap

newsmap.jpg

Contribute

Latest Tip:

The New York State Senate on Tuesday evening voted to expel Senator Hiram Monserrate!
[more]

Latest Photo:

Subscribe

Use an RSS reader to stay up to date with the latest news and posts from Gothamist.

All Our RSS

Follow us