THE WRATH OF A WOMAN SCORNED!

A Columbia scientist whose S&M conviction was overturned is about to experience the wrath of a woman scorned.
Oliver Jovanovic's ex-lover - who ardently defended him when he was on trial a decade ago - plans to help city lawyers fight his $10 million malicious prosecution suit.

Marinza Bruineman says Jovanovic repaid her loyalty by freezing her out of his life - and now she's ready to get revenge by dishing dirt.

"I think I can help the city blow this apart. I'm so p----d off at this guy," Bruineman told the Daily News last week. "I don't think he deserves a friggin' penny."

Jovanovic, a molecular biologist, was accused of kidnapping a Barnard College woman he met on the Internet and sexually torturing her for 20 hours. He said it was consensual.

He was convicted of some charges in 1998 and sentenced to 15 years. He served less than two because an appeals court overturned the verdict, saying jurors should have seen kinky e-mails from the woman.

Prosecutors opted not to retry Jovanovic, who promptly sued.

Bruineman, 51, a computer programmer who lives in Pennsylvania, said she has valuable information that could help sink his case.

"He told me the whole story," she said.

"He told me that he definitely tied her up. He tied me up, always too tight - way too tight.

"My feet would get numb. I don't care to be tied up. It took a lot of complaining before he'd respond."

Bruineman plans to tell city attorney Andrew Larkin next week "what I experienced physically, personally and mentally" with Jovanovic, 43.

Jovanovic's lawyer, Jon Norinsberg, dismissed Bruineman's tale. "She's got gaping holes in her credibility," he said.

Bruineman admits she has an ax to grind.

She complained that the night he got out of prison, Jovanovic refused to hold her hand and instead massaged his mother's neck.

She said he later slugged her in the head when she refused to let him play games on her computer and never told her about the big-bucks suit.

"I think he should have said to me, 'We're filing a lawsuit and I'd like to keep you posted' and that if there was a settlement, he would share it with me or pay my expenses," she said.

Bruineman - who helped find witnesses for her boyfriend and visited him in jail - estimated she spent at least $100,000 to help his defense.

Larkin said he expects to ask a federal judge to dismiss the suit within five weeks.

If the case goes to trial in April, "some very interesting newsworthy [facts] will come out," said Norinsberg, who said he has deposed two dozen witnesses.