A lawyer for rapper Jay-Z has requested a court docket to dismiss a lawsuit accusing him, together with Sean “Diddy” Combs, of raping a 13-year-old woman in 2000, after inconsistencies emerged in her allegation.
An Alabama girl, named within the authorized motion by the pseudonym Jane Doe, has accused the musicians of drugging and attacking her at a home get together following the MTV Video Music Awards.
She claimed she spoke with one celeb on the get together, although his consultant mentioned he was on tour on the time. Her father instructed NBC News he can’t recall driving 5 hours to select her up after the alleged assault, as she says.
In an interview with NBC, the lady acknowledged making “some errors” in her accusation, however mentioned she stood by her declare.
Rape assist suppliers say it’s common for victims of such assaults to misremember some particulars, particularly if they’ve been allegedly drugged.
The litigation is a part of dozens of sexual assault lawsuits filed in opposition to Mr Combs, who’s in custody awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking fees in New York. He was denied bail a 3rd time final month. Mr Combs denies all of the allegations.
Jay-Z’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, requested the court docket to dismiss Jane Doe’s case, saying in an announcement to the BBC: “It is beautiful {that a} lawyer wouldn’t solely file such a critical criticism with out correct vetting, however would make issues worse by additional peddling this false story within the press.”
The rapper, whose actual title is Shawn Carter, issued an announcement to the BBC saying the lawyer, Tony Buzbee, had filed the authorized motion “in pursuit of cash and fame”.
“This incident did not occur and but he filed it in court docket and doubled down within the press,” his assertion mentioned.
“True Justice is coming. We combat FROM victory, not FOR victory. This was over earlier than it started. This 1-800 lawyer would not understand it but, however, quickly.”
The BBC is contacting Mr Combs’s lawyer for remark.
Warning: This story incorporates particulars that some readers could discover distressing.
Mr Buzbee mentioned his agency was persevering with to vet his consumer’s claims.
The girl says within the lawsuit a waitress supplied her a drink on the get together that made her really feel “woozy”, so she went right into a room to lie down.
Soon afterwards, the authorized motion says, Mr Combs and Mr Carter entered the room with a feminine celeb, described as Celebrity B.
The authorized motion says Mr Carter held her down and raped her, earlier than Mr Combs did the identical, all whereas Celebrity B watched.
However, pictures from that night present Jay-Z and Mr Combs at a special location to the one described by the accuser. It shouldn’t be clear if their whereabouts for your complete night have been accounted for.
The girl claimed in her allegation that she had spoken with musicians Benji and Joel Madden, who she mentioned have been amongst various celebrities on the home get together. She doesn’t accuse them of any wrongdoing.
But a consultant for the Maddens instructed NBC the brothers have been on tour within the Midwest in the course of the VMAs that 12 months.
The girl’s father instructed NBC he would not bear in mind driving greater than 5 hours to select up his daughter after her alleged ordeal.
“I really feel like I might do not forget that, and I do not,” he mentioned.
The girl’s lawyer, Mr Buzbee, instructed NBC that his consumer stands by her declare.
“Our consumer stays fiercely adamant that what she has acknowledged is true, to the most effective of her reminiscence,” he mentioned.
“We will proceed to vet her claims and acquire corroborating information to the extent it exists.
“Because we’ve got interrogated her intensely, she has even agreed to undergo a polygraph. I’ve by no means had a consumer counsel that earlier than.”
The girl, who’s now 38 and a mother-of-two, instructed NBC within the interview from Houston, Texas: “You ought to by no means let what anyone else did damage or run your life.
“I simply hope I may give others the energy to return ahead like I got here ahead.”
Erinn Robinson, director of media relations for the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), mentioned “trauma like rape can have each short- and long-term results on the mind that affect determination making and reminiscence.”
“Recall of reminiscences could also be fragmented, and particulars is probably not recalled in the appropriate order,” she instructed the BBC.
Ms Robinson mentioned these results are frequent and mentioned police departments are educated to cope with such circumstances with a purpose to scale back the probability of allegations being dismissed as a result of the sufferer’s reminiscence appears disjointed or inconsistent.
