Official Website of Ellis Henican | DSK CASE COLLAPSES INTO A ‘HE SAID-SHE SAID’

“DSK rape case now in doubt”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, July 3, 2011

What if the accuser isn’t telling the truth?

That troubling possibility has now elbowed its way into the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case. He, of course, is the IMF chief and almost-candidate for president of France who’s been charged with sexually assaulting a housekeeper in his suite at Manhattan’s Sofitel hotel.

The case against Strauss-Kahn was looking open-and-shut.

But on Friday, Manhattan prosecutors conceded that the alleged victim has made several claims that now seem untrue. They say she lied to the grand jury about what happened that day on the hotel’s 28^th floor. They say she lied on an immigration form about various abominations in her native Guinea.

Strauss-Kahn still faces charges here. They haven’t been dropped or even reduced. Yet. But prosecutors agreed to his immediate release from house arrest without bail, conceding that their case is looking weaker now.

We may never know what happened inside Suite 2806 at the Sofitel. The two people who do know have very different versions. And science can’t resolve one key dispute: Was the sex between them voluntary or forced? Like many sex-assault cases, this one is ultimately a matter of he-said-she-said.

Could she still be a victim here? Yes, she could.

But given the accuser’s spotty record of truth-telling, how are the jurors supposed to know? Even if they are inclined to believe her, they can hardly be certain now beyond a reasonable doubt.

In this contest of he-said-she-said, he is on his way to winning now.

DECLARE OUR INDEPENDENCE

1. From boorish relatives

2. From high gas

3. From crying babies

3. From crowded highways

5. From back-to-work stress

ASKED AND UNANSWERED:

Will Long Island’s caterers, florists and limo drivers share in the spoils of New York State’s gay-wedding boom, even though all the island’s senators voted “no” on legalizing gay marriage?…Does Joseph Simeone know the difference between “store” and “sell”? Nassau cops say the Glen Cove classic-car dealer sold a 1934 Ford Roadster, a 1936 Ford Phaeton and a 1939 Cabriolet — without the owner’s permission…Is the mystery in the David Laffer case becoming increasingly psychiatric? What possible rational reason did the strung-out Army vet have to kill those people in the drugstore?…If it weren’t for Laffer, would anyone care that Patrick O’Donnell allegedly robbed the CVS in Farmingville last weekend?…The economy is bouncing back? Tell that to the 20 UTI workers just laid off in Melville – and six at the Capital One branch in Mattituck…With Amityville Mayor Peter Imbert and four village trustees on horseback in Monday’s Fourth of July Parade, what’s the chance they all get home without a single embarrassing riding mishap?…Does this weekend’s sky-high occupancy rate at LI campgrounds have anything to do with tightly trimmed family-vacation budgets? Are hotels as full?…Will Chris Cuddihy and his six-man Round Island Row crew ever try again? Their catamaran fundraiser for the Suffolk County United Veterans Project was foiled by high winds and a badly battered vessel.

THE NEWS IN SONG:

“American Girl,” Tom Petty, tinyurl.com/amerigirl.

Petty told Michele Bachmann to quit using his classic anthem at her campaign events. But that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy it this Independence Day weekend.

LONG ISLANDERS OF THE WEEK

THE VALEDICTORIANS

There are too many to name them all here. But now that graduation season is finally done, check out our handy photo gallery of valedictorians at newsday.com. Finally, a set of youthful mug shots we can all be proud of! From (in alphabetical not academic order) Amityville’s Alexandra Willenbrock to Wyandanch’s Dawn Littles, these really are LI’s best and brightest, students who have done us proud already and have only just begun. What’s amazing isn’t just the stratospheric GPAs or the fancy-college acceptances. It’s how well rounded this year’s valedictorians are. Judging by their long lists of awards and extra-curriculars, these kids are anything but bookish drones.