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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
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Model UN Participant Claims She Was Raped

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CN) - A student of a prestigious Florida school attending the model United Nations program at Yale University sexually assaulted a fellow attendee, she claims in court.

The girl, through her parents, sued The Benjamin School, the alleged perpetrator and his father, who was a chaperone on the trip, for negligence, sexual assault and battery.

Jane Doe, as she is named in the complaint, says she was 16 when she met the older boy for the first time at the Yale Model United Nations Program, an academic simulation of international diplomacy. While Doe hails from Westchester, N.Y., her new acquaintance attended The Benjamin School in Florida, which Doe describes as "elite."

Yale hosted the 2013 conference on the weekend of Jan. 23, with many attendees allegedly staying at the Omni Hotel in New Haven, Conn., according to the complaint.

Doe says she was visiting The Benjamin School student in his room at the Omni on Jan. 26 when he held her "down against her will, ignored her pleas for him to stop, committing, among other things, digital and penile-vaginal penetration and forcible oral sex."

The teen then allegedly bragged to his friends about what they had done and even videotaped the horrific incident. Doe says she was not the only girl that he brought into his room unsupervised.

Criminal charges were not filed against the male student, according to media reports.

Doe says his the boy's father had a duty as a chaperone to enforce the school rules, according to the complaint.

Doe and her family claim the father was negligent in supervising the students. He was not supposed to allow any students in the same room together alone or even on the same floor together if they did not have a room on that floor, according to the complaint.

Doe says she was sexually assaulted during her second visit to the boy's room.

The attack has allegedly caused her physical and psychological injuries and has required her to finish the year with homeschooling.

Doe's injuries are debilitating and ongoing, according to the complaint. Since the assault, she has had sleep disturbances, severe mood swings and anxiety disorder.

The family seeks compensation for Doe's injuries and any additional relief to which she may be entitled.

They are represented by Adam Horowitz of the Herman Law Firm in Boca Raton, Fla.

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