Rape or sexual assault: what do I do now?

Rape or sexual assault: what do I do now?

A UNIVERSITY student is suing a woman for $6 million claiming her false rape accusation at a frat party has destroyed his life.

Catherine Reddington, 22, took to social media posting her brutal tale of assault which Alex Goldman, also 22, says has “destroyed” his life.

The woman from Long Island in New York State claims that Mr Goldman raped her in a bedroom of Syracuse University’s Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity following a party in April 2017.

Mr Goldman has now filed a defamation lawsuit against Ms Reddington claiming that his former classmate is waging a campaign to “destroy and wreak havoc” on his life and get him expelled from his new university.

Onondaga District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick said his office takes sexual assault cases seriously, but in this case, the evidence wasn’t there.

The New York Post reported that Ms Reddington went to the police and the university with her accusations, which she posted on Facebook.

“I woke up in Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity in Alex Goldman’s bed confused, bloody, bruised, with ripped clothing and splinter[s],” Ms Reddington wrote earlier this month.

“Alex Goldman is a rapist.”

Mr Goldman, who was never arrested or charged over the incident, was expelled from his university after the claims surfaced and more recently was fired from his summer internship with an engineering firm when Ms Reddington informed them of the allegations.

However, a police investigation into the allegations found no evidence that Ms Reddington had been raped or even had a sexual encounter with Mr Goldman that night.

The month-long investigation included a medical exam, rape kit and blood work within 26 hours of the incident, according to court papers and the District Attorney.

The two engineering majors woke up fully clothed in Mr Goldman’s bed, both claiming no memory of the night before.

The Post reported that investigators found it “impossible to determine what, if anything, occurred that evening between Reddington and Goldman.”

“There is no credible proof of any sexual conduct in this case, consensual or non-consensual,” an assistant district attorney wrote in a November 2017 letter, attached to Mr Goldman’s civil claim, explaining why he was never charged.

Ms Reddington slammed the DA’s letter on Facebook, calling it “disgusting.”

But her accusations were enough to get Mr Goldman booted from his university which stated it followed state and federal law in handling the complaint, according to the New York Post.

The university declined to say why Mr Goldman was expelled.

Mr Fitzpatrick told The Post: “What she has alleged about this office and this young man is simply not accurate.

“I don’t know what her motivation is for that.”

Ms Reddington posted Mr Goldman’s picture, and links to his Facebook and LinkedIn profiles, in lengthy messages detailing the alleged assault, and accuses him of being a serial rapist. She added a #MeToo hashtag and linked to his current university, the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

“I write this post because this is not the first time Alex Goldman has raped someone and I want to make sure that it is the last,” she claims in a post earlier this month.

She also posted a screenshot of what appeared to be a message exchange with Goldman’s employer, Bohler Engineering, and crowed that he was fired.

“Due to the severity of the allegations and our zero tolerance policy, we have elected to immediately terminate the employment relationship,” the company replied in the screenshot posted on Ms Reddington’s social media.

According to The Post, his lawyer Seth Zuckerman said Mr Goldman chose to sue Ms Reddington “because he could not sit idly by”.

“Mr Goldman will do everything possible to recover his good name,” he said.

Ms Reddington declined comment to The Post, calling it “a matter in the courts”.

Bohler Engineering didn’t return a call for comment.

Last month a similar case unfolded when student Nikki Yovino, 19 claimed two university football students raped her.

She was jailed for a year over the false allegations which led to the boys’ suspension from their football team where they also had their scholarships revoked.