NBC New YorkA woman who falsely accused two former college football players of rape is now being sued by them.
Former Sacred Heart University football players Dhameer Bradley and Malik St. Hilaire filed a lawsuit against Nikki Yovino on October 10.
The allegations against 20-year-old Yovino include slander and infliction of emotional distress. The pair are also accusing the school of wrongly suspending them following the false accusations.
Yovino was attending Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut, in October 2016 when she had sex with Bradley and St. Hilaire at an off-campus party.
Afterwards she accused them of ‘taking turns’ and raping her in the bathroom, but later admitted to making up the allegations so she wouldn’t ruin her chances with another potential boyfriend.
The arrest warrant affidavit read:
It was the first thing that came to mind and she didn’t want to lose (another male student) as a friend and potential boyfriend.
It goes on to state that Yovino hoped that when the other male student heard the false accusations, it would ‘make him angry and sympathetic to her’.
SHUIn August Yovino was sentenced to a year in prison after pleading guilty to falsely reporting an incident and interfering with police.
The football players were never arrested but one lost his scholarship and withdrew from school while facing possible discipline and suffering emotional distress and PTSD.
St. Hilaire’s victim statement said:
I went from being a college student to sitting at home being expelled with no way to clear my name.
I just hope she knows what she has done to me, my life will never be the same. I did nothing wrong, but everything has been altered because of this.
LinkedInFrank Riccio III, who represented the football players, read a statement from the second man who did not want to be identified at the time but is presumed to be Bradley.
The statement from the man, who lost his scholarship because of the allegations and has suffered depression and anxiety, read:
She accused me of what I believe to be a horrendous, horrific crime out of her own selfish concerns.
I lost my scholarship, my dream of continuing to play football and now I am in debt $30,000 and I’m simply trying to get ahead as best as I can
The cameras were on Yovino when the victim statements were being read, and there are many claims that she acted with no remorse, regularly rolling her eyes and groaning.
Her attorney, Ryan O’Neill however said the accusations against her demeanour in court were false and she was trying to move her hair out of her fact without being able to use her handcuffed hands.
Nikki Yovino/FacebookThe university’s lawyer declined to comment about the lawsuit on Monday, according to the Daily Mail.
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