news, latest-news

A woman demanded her ex-partner give her their house and $90,000 at the time she allegedly falsely accused him of bashing and raping her, a court has heard. The ACT Magistrates Court on Monday heard the animosity between the couple after they split descended into a bitter family court dispute. It was in the midst of this battle that the woman allegedly made a number of false allegations, the prosecution said. The man, a prison guard, spent about four months behind bars last year as a result, before he was cleared in December. The woman was charged with causing public mischief and went on trial in the Magistrates Court on Monday. She has pleaded not guilty. The court heard the defendant had first alleged her ex-partner had assaulted and raped her in December 2013. The man was arrested, charged, and granted bail. But he was locked up again in March 2014 after she claimed he attacked, assaulted, raped, and threatened her with a brick when she had been hanging the clothes on the line. But police became suspicious as she then made allegations again her ex-partners family, claiming they had harassed, intimidated, burgled, and bugged her. In one incident, she triggered a duress alarm and claimed to have been run off the road and attacked with a knife. She showed police a superficial cut on her hand as evidence of the violent confrontation, the court heard. Police went to the scene and discovered a steak knife that matched a set the defendant had at her home. She was put under covert surveillance, and police found evidence to suggest she had been lying about her ex's family. Officers then re-investigated other allegations she had made in the past, finding the woman had accused a friend's father of sexually assaulting her in 2008. The woman told her mother the man, a neighbour, had kissed her, fondled her breast, and digitally penetrated her, as he walked her home from his house one evening in 2007. She then claimed the man had assaulted his daughter and two other friends. She was under the age of 18 at the time of the alleged false accusation, and the court on Monday suppressed her name as a result. Prosecutor Anthony Williams, in his opening address, said the obvious question the proceedings raised was, why would the defendant lie? "She did it for greed, pure and simple. She did it for money," Mr Williamson said. The prosecutor said the "calculated and malicious lies", combined with the "gullibility and lack of objectivity" of some police saw an innocent man locked up behind bars for four months. Mr Williamson told Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker that the court would hear from a number of witnesses who would contradict the allegations made by the defendant. In relation to the 2008 allegations, the court heard the defendant had changed her story when questioned, also alleging the neighbour had threatened to kill her and her family. Mr Williamson said the prosecution would call the other alleged victims who would deny ever being assaulted. The prosecutor said the court would also hear from the first officer on scene after the woman claimed to have been beaten and raped by her ex-partner in March 2014. The court heard the officer would report finding the woman lying on the ground with her pants unbuttoned, but otherwise with neat hair and tidy appearance. It is alleged the defendant at first claimed memory loss but then expanded on her claims a number of times. It was about this time, Mr Williamson said, the woman instructed her lawyers to demand the house and $90,000 payment from her ex-partner. The hearing ended prematurely on Monday after the accused's mother, the first witness to give evidence, raised concerns about the authenticity of police statement attributed to her. The matter will continue on Tuesday.

https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/cd299908-f29f-4d8e-99d3-06c6bf997905/r0_102_1999_1231_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg