Accuser testifies in rape trial of former Buckeye

The woman who accused a former Ohio State University football player of raping her last year tearfully explained in court Wednesday that all she wanted was a sincere apology.

“If I believed that he was really sorry for it, I don’t believe I would have reported it,” the 25-year-old woman testified in Franklin County Common Pleas Court.

But Bri’onte Dunn didn’t apologize for the reported Aug. 20, 2017 incident, she said.

She said she felt she had no choice but to press charges, given the possibility that other women could become victims.

“If it was just me ... I’m willing to bear that,” she said. “But I can’t fathom the idea of him doing it to someone else.”

The Dispatch typically does not identify victims of sexual assaults.

The woman was the sole witness in the first day of the expected two-day trial. Dunn, 26, who played for the Buckeyes from 2012 to 2015 as a backup running back, is charged with three counts of rape and could face more than 30 years in prison if convicted. Dunn

According to Columbus police, Dunn had called the woman — someone he’d dated in the past — for a ride home about 4:15 in the morning.

She said she drove him to her residence, north of campus, and went to bed, expecting him to call an Uber. Instead, Dunn got into bed with her and began groping her, she told police. She told him to stop and he persisted, holding her down, and forcing her to have sex with him three times, according to police reports.

Jennifer Rausch, an assistant Franklin County prosecutor, asked the woman about repeated phone calls between the two after the incident, including at least two calls from her to him.

The woman said she had feelings for Dunn, even though their months-long relationship, which had begun on a dating app, had ended.

“It was very sad, because a part of me knew that I would have to report it,” the woman testified about being attacked. “I didn’t want to have to go though this whole process at all.”

Defense attorney Joe Landusky described his client as quiet and polite, and his accuser as unstable and an alcohol abuser.

He spoke about the complex nature of relationships, saying the accuser created a story “because my client didn’t say goodbye in a particular way ... he is a rapist.”

In cross-examination, Landusky repeatedly asked why the woman picked up an ex-boyfriend at 4 a.m. He maintains the sex was consensual and that she had no bruises from what she says was a brutal attack.

On Tuesday, prosecutors had offered Dunn a deal to plead guilty to a minor misdemeanor with no jail time or sex-offender registration. He refused.

Along with two other prosecution witnesses, Dunn is expected to testify in his defense Thursday. Jurors could have the case in the afternoon.