Rape or sexual assault: what do I do now?

Rape or sexual assault: what do I do now?

“MY friends are waiting for me outside, let me go outside.”

Those are the words of teenager Nikki Yovino when describing what allegedly happened inside a bathroom at an off-campus house party.

Yovino, 19, has been jailed for one year after claiming two university football students raped her, allegedly holding her down and taking turns assaulting her.

She pleaded guilty to the charges and accepted a plea deal after previously denying she had made up the claims.

The claims lead to the boys’ suspension from their football team where they also had their scholarships revoked.

The allegations were later cleared when the former student admitted to making up the claims against the two Connecticut university athletes in a bid to gain sympathy from another man — a prospective boyfriend, according to the New York Post.

“She admitted that she made up the allegation of sexual assault because 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,” the affidavit revealed.

“She stated that she believed when (the other male student) heard the allegation it would make him angry and sympathetic to her.”

Yovino was a student at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield when police say she reported being raped by two Sacred Heart football players at an off-campus party in Bridgeport in October 2016.

Authorities say she later admitted that she had consensual sex with the players and told them her motive. She was charged with evidence tampering, a felony, and falsely reporting an incident, a misdemeanour.

The teenager was charged with second-degree falsely reporting an incident and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence on Tuesday.

She was sent to jail after pleading guilty to the charges and will now serve a reduced sentence of one year in prison. She had been facing six but reportedly accepted a plea deal.

Yovino — who had since left the private university — had been defending her rape accusations since February 2017, when she was first charged by Bridgeport Police.

She claimed that the assaults happened inside of a bathroom at an off-campus house party.

“I don’t want to be in here, I don’t want to do anything,” Yovino recounted telling the men during police interviews.

She claimed that the bathroom was in the basement, and that the individuals held her down and took turns assaulting her.

“My friends are waiting for me outside, let me go outside,” Yovino recalled saying.

Police claimed in the arrest affidavit that Yovino filed rape charges against the two football players in October 2016 — and then recanted her story three months later.

While both men admitted to sleeping with her, they claimed that the sex was completely consensual.

Their lawyer, Frank Riccio II, told the Connecticut Post yesterday that they are now thinking about suing Yovino for all the trouble she put them through.

“Her actions have seriously affected them,” he said.

“They’re no longer in school. The loss of their education and the college experience has certainly affected them greatly. And this is all because of a very serious lie.

“While this disposition does not replace that which the boys lost, it does send a powerful message that lying about a serious incident carries serious consequences.”

He told reporters on Monday that Yovino’s actions had “seriously affected” the former athletes.

Back in August last year, a UK woman, labelled as a “serial rape accuser” had also been jailed after falsely accusing 15 men of sexual assault. She was sentenced to 10 years behind bars.