Someone was actually sentenced to prison for falsely accusing a man of sexual assault. It was only three years, and they won’t likely serve the full term, but still.
Have you ever had a dispute with your neighbor over landscaping and considered falsely accusing them of a crime? Well, apparently that’s what one police officer in Uxbridge, west London did after feuding with a neighbor over hedge trimmings.
Police Constable (PC) Hitesh Lakhani, 42, reported that he saw a man try to lure a 5-year-old girl into the bushes while her mother was walking just a few steps ahead. Lakhani said he then saw the man pull down his pants and force the girl to touch him. The mother, Lakhani claimed, called for her daughter, which allowed the girl to escape. Lakhani even took a photograph of the alleged perpetrator to share with police, The Mirror reported. The photo was shared on social media to help find the accused man.
Who would ever lie about such a thing?
Lakhani. Lakhani would lie about such a thing.
The man who was accused was a street cleaner and neighbor of Lakhani, it turns out. The two previously had an argument about hedge trimmings falling into the street. As retaliation, Lakhani invented the claims about the neighbor assaulting a child.
CCTV footage from a neighbor’s home proved the incident did not happen and could not happen as Lakhani described. Judge Jonathan Davies, during sentencing, explained exactly what is wrong with sexual assault accusations these days: An accusation is all that is needed, and if the accused hopes to be vindicated, they better pray there is evidence out there proving the crime didn’t happen. That’s a horrible legal standard. Traditionally, a case has to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. The defense, theoretically, doesn’t have to present any evidence since the burden of proof is on the prosecutors/accusers. It makes sense: You make an accusation; you have to prove it. But Davies let the truth slip.
“This was wicked, prolonged and cruel conduct,” Davies said, as reported by The Evening Standard. “Had Mr. Lakhani’s evidence not been covered by CCTV this man would have been arrested and remanded in custody.”
Yep. It didn’t matter that the only evidence was Lakhani’s claims – the accused would have been arrested.
“[Lakhani] never did back down and this calls in to question other cases where he has given evidence,” Davies added.
The judge sentenced Lakhani to three years in prison, chastising him for abusing his profession.
“You were a police officer who would normally be calm and professional,” Davies said. “This wasn’t spontaneous, you planned this. You have damaged the credibility of police officers generally and cases you have been a part of may need to be re-examined.”
David Davies of the Crown Prosecution Service said that a “police investigation found no trace of sexual crimes being reported in the vicinity, various inaccuracies in Lakhani’s account and CCTV evidence from a neighbouring house, which proved the sexual assault could not have happened.”
“The implications for this victim could have been profound, but we were able to prove Lakhani’s account was entirely fictional and unfounded,” he added.