BAY AREA FOOTBALL Foster’s accuser says beating allegations were ‘all a money scheme’

SAN JOSE – In emotional, dramatic, and unusual testimony, San Francisco 49ers linebacker Reuben Foster’s former girlfriend on Thursday said she fabricated allegations that he beat her, claiming it was simply an extortion ploy that got out of control.

But Elissa Ennis denied that Foster or anyone else paid her to recant her initial accusations that threaten to derail Foster’s budding pro football career.

Judge Nona Klippen announced at the end of the five-hour hearing – highlighted by two hours of a grueling on-the-record retraction by Ennis – that she would delay her decision on whether to send the case to trial by a week. The next court date is set for Wednesday.

As Foster looked on during his preliminary hearing, Elissa Ennis testifed that she threatened to mess up Foster’s career after he broke up with her and that she called 911 because “I wanted him to go down. I was pissed.”

Under questioning from Foster’s attorney Joshua Bentley, Ennis also admitted that she attempted to get a previous boyfriend arrested for domestic violence in 2011 in a similar scheme.

“You knew in this case when Reuben Foster broke up with you, you were going to go to your playbook and ruin his career,” Bentley said. “Isn’t that true?” “Yes, sir,” Ennis said. Court officials in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, confirmed Thursday that Ennis was arrested on suspicion of two counts of aggravated assault on Nov. 4, 2011, but the charges were dismissed two years later. There is no official record of any false report of domestic violence, but that’s not unusual since she faced more serious allegations.

Ennis often struggled to recall events, particularly the night before

Bay Area News Group San Francisco 49ers linebacker Reuben Foster walks to the Santa Clara Hall of Justice for his preliminary hearing on his domestic-violence case on Thursday in San Jose.

Foster’s Feb. 11 arrest, when she said got into a fight with two women in San Francisco and suffered injuries that she initially blamed on Foster.

She repeatedly said she couldn’t fully remember what she told police – statements which ultimately led to the criminal charges against Foster. Ennis’ attorney, Stephanie Rickard, stated in court Thursday that she advised her client against testifying, and had urged her to plead the Fifth Amendment, her right against self-incrimination.

In her initial account, Ennis told Los Gatos-monte Sereno police that Foster “punched her in the head 8 to 10 times,” rupturing her eardrum, but also that Foster hit her “hard, but not that hard,” according to a police report.

Ennis also testified that after Foster’s arrest, she went home to Louisiana with Foster’s jewelry and about $8,000 in cash. The cash was recovered, but Ennis said the jewelry is in a safe deposit box back home.