Duke accuser's father: Broomstick used

The latest from the nexus of Duke and cable news: the accuser's father claims she was raped with a broomstick:

The father of the accuser in the rape case involving Duke University lacrosse players said his daughter was raped with a broomstick during a party last month, and that explains defense lawyers' claims that no DNA from players was found on her.

The woman's father, appearing on MSNBC's "Rita Cosby Live & Direct" Tuesday night, said his daughter told him that when three team members raped and sodomized her, they also used a broom.

The father said he learned about the broom from others, "and then she told me afterwards because she didn't want me to know that part," he said.

Durham civil rights activist Victoria Peterson told the Observer on Wednesday that an investigator in the case told her the woman had been sodomized "with an object."

"He did not say a broom, just an object," said Peterson, who has become a friend and adviser to the woman's family since the party. "He told me she wasn't just raped, she was terribly sodomized."

As usual, this doesn't really add up. First, if "three team members raped and sodomized her" and "also used a broom," that would not explain the lack of a DNA match. In addition, the father's story doesn't match with police search warrants. The Charlotte Observer reports that "police who searched the Buchanan Boulevard house where the party occurred made no mention of seizing a broomstick. And a broomstick was not among the items that police said they wanted to seize when they applied for the search warrant." Presumably, if Nifong knew the victim was assaulted with a broomstick, he would be looking for it.

Comments

[Alan]

A broomstick has been in the picture from the beginning, so this current news report does not surprise me.

See http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/breaking_news/14396212.htm

"Although [Roberts] would not talk extensively about the party, she confirmed some of what the other dancer told police - including that the women initially left the party after one of the players threatened to sodomize the women with a broomstick."

Its not clear exactly how the broomstick and various body parts fit into the whole picture, but in that respect, I think we should give the woman a little privacy, avoid speculating, and let the police and DA do their jobs.