Nate Parker Releases Statement Regarding His Accuser’s Suicide
Nate Parker is preparing to releases one of the biggest films of his career with The Birth of a Nation.
Unfortunately, reports of his Penn State rape case has saturated headlines instead.
Via The NY Times:
Mr. Parker was accused in 1999 of raping a fellow student at Penn State. The victim, whose name is not public, said that Mr. Parker and his roommate, Mr. Celestin, raped her while she was intoxicated and unconscious, according to court documents, and that they later harassed, intimidated and stalked her after she pressed charges. Both men said that the sex was consensual.
Mr. Parker, who, according to court transcripts, had had consensual oral sex with the woman previously, was acquitted of the charges. Mr. Celestin, who received a “story by” credit on “The Birth of a Nation,” was convicted of sexual assault, but his case was appealed. There are conflicting accounts about the outcome.
The woman, under the name Jane Doe, then sued Penn State for failing to protect her from harassment; the case was settled for $17,500. According to court records, the victim had twice attempted suicide after the alleged rape. According to a court document, as a result of the harassment, the accuser “suffered severe depression, sleeplessness, and anxiety attacks.” She also said that her apartment had been broken into and that her files on the case had been “disturbed.”
On Tuesday, it was revealed that the accuser committed suicide in 2012 by overdosing on sleeping pills.
In a statement written on his Facebook page, Nate Parker says he is “devastated.”
