BOSTON — A woman who has accused a New Jersey man of raping her 16 years ago in Boston says she felt that her freedom had been taken away from her that night, and she wants to face him in court.
“It’s been horrible. A big part of my life stopped that day,” Lori Pinkham told ABC’s “Good Morning America” in an interview broadcast Wednesday. “I couldn’t work. I didn’t want to spend time with anybody. Every day, I’ve lived in fear.”
Matthew Nilo, 35, a lawyer from Weehawken, New Jersey, pleaded not guilty in a Boston courtroom last week to several charges, including three counts of aggravated rape, two counts of kidnapping, one count of assault with intent to rape and one count of indecent assault and battery. The charges stem from four attacks that happened in Boston’s Charlestown neighborhood from August 2007 through December 2008 — a time that authorities say Nilo lived in the city.
A prosecutor said authorities helped tie him to the attacks by getting DNA from a drinking glass he had used.
The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission. Pinkham appeared on camera with her mother publicly and agreed to be identified for the “Good Morning America” interview.
Pinkham said she was at a club that she was doing promotions for in 2007. She was 23 at the time. As she was walking to her car, she said Nilo pulled up in his car and asked if she needed a ride. She said she was OK — and then she saw he had a gun in his hand.
“He just said, ‘Get in the car.’ And I just got really scared, and I got in the car.” She said he drove and stopped in Charlestown. She said she tried to run away, but he caught up and raped her.
When asked if she was confident Nilo was the guy, Pinkham said, “Yes, absolutely.” She said she’d face him in court to let him know that she isn’t scared of him.
She said she would testify against him if asked by prosecutors.
An email seeking comment was sent to Nilo’s lawyer, Joseph Cataldo. On Monday, Cataldo told a judge that Nilo was prepared to post the $500,000 bail that was set last week. A call to a spokesperson for the Suffolk County sheriff’s department asking if Nilo had been released was not immediately returned Wednesday.
Cataldo questioned the legality of his client’s DNA being taken without a warrant at last week’s hearing.
Nilo is due back in court on July 13.
