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“He Infiltrated My Thoughts, Relationship, and Life Even 15 Years Later” – Bellator Champion Speaks out on Sexual Abuse

ByShantanu Mayenkar

Apr 25, 2020 | 3:19 PM EDT

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Current Bellator women’s flyweight champion, Ilima-Lei Macfarlane filed a lawsuit against her former basketball coach.

Macfarlane, her sister, and an undisclosed name from her school filed a lawsuit in Honolulu on Thursday. The suit states that Macfarlane’s basketball coach from Punahou School sexually abused her and 2 other girls at the age of 12. The defendant has been identified as Dwayne Yuen.

“I had an inappropriate relationship with an adult who was in an authoritative position and a position of power, as a 12-year-old, and that has 100 percent affected what I think is a healthy relationship,” Macfarlane said.

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“They swept it under the rug” – Ilima-Lei Macfarlane speaks out

According to the report (first published by Hawaii News), Yuen forced the girls to touch his genitals, offered money for sex acts, and even sent nude pictures of himself. Although the girls complained about the same, the school took no action.

“There was no follow at all, whatsoever, which was especially heartbreaking, because I love Punahou,” Macfarlane said. She believes that the school was aware of the culture that was prevailing within their premises. The events scarred Macfarlane for good. She was forced to switch careers from basketball to wrestling.

“I ended up losing my love for basketball, which was crazy,” Macfarlane said. “That’s what I wanted to do as a career. I wanted to play professional basketball in the WNBA.”

She also issued a lengthy statement on her Instagram.

View this post on Instagram

Even though I’ve been a strong voice for other wahine toa—creating my scholarship for native girls, teaching self-defense to them, leading healing retreats for women—I never really shared my own story. To be honest, I was in denial and didn’t want to admit that it affected me as much as it did. I have to be strong. I’m a professional fighter. I can’t show any vulnerability. I can’t give him the satisfaction of knowing how much he infiltrated my thoughts, relationships and life even 15 years later. But here we are. The time is now. And for all the trolls saying, “wHy DiD u wAiT s0 l0nG?!” Idiots. We didn’t “wait”. My sister reported him to the school right when it happened and they swept it under the rug. Punahou knew I was a victim and witness to my own sister’s abuse and didn’t even bother to check on me. As a result we were retaliated against by him and the basketball program and had to see him everyday, still allowed on campus around minors. My sister and I tried our best to move on with our lives until it resurfaced in 2018 when more victims came forward. Punahou claimed they were doing an internal investigation but again, didn’t contact me and refused to share the results of the “investigation” with my sister. Disgustingly, we found out that he’s STILL coaching and teaching minor girls. So here we are now, 15 years later seeking justice together. He can’t get away with this anymore. Dwayne Yuen, YOUR TIME IS UP. P.S. I chose this picture not only for the solidarity that my family and I have together through this process, but to show you how old me and Mahina were when the sexual grooming and abuse started. I was in 6th grade and she (far right) was a freshman.
A post shared by Ilima-Lei Macfarlane (@ilimanator) on Apr 23, 2020 at 3:14pm PDT

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Macfarlane is 11-0 in her MMA career. She won the inaugural Bellator women’s flyweight championship after defeating Emily Ducote. Since then, she has defended it four times. In her most recent victory, ‘The Ilimanator’ won a unanimous decision over Kate Jackson.

Bellator President extends his support

In an interview with MMA Junkie, Bellator President Scott Coker said:

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“That’s something very serious. We’re here to support her. It’s obviously become a legal situation, and that’s something that’s always a rough go, but we’re here for her. And if she needs anything, we’ll be here for her.”

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