Mum-to-be jailed for 'sex assault' claim
A mum-to-be who lied about being sexually assaulted by a taxi driver because she did not have enough money to pay the fare has been jailed.
Gemma Hasson, 25, now faces the prospect of being in prison when she has her first baby, due in May.
Hasson, a marketing analyst, made the false claim in a “moment of madness” when she did not have enough money to pay the fare after being taken to an address near Huntingdon on March 27 last year, Peterborough Crown Court heard.
Judge Nic Madge told Hasson: “You made a false complaint of a serious sexual assault against a taxi driver to avoid paying a fare.
“You alleged you were attacked in a taxi, that he pulled off your leggings and knickers and then chased you. That was false.
“Such false claims make it harder for the prosecuting authorities to secure convictions where genuine complaints of sexual assault are made.
“They increase the likelihood of guilty men going free and they are highly damaging to the criminal justice system.
“I am satisfied this offence is so serious I have no option but to impose an immediate custodial sentence.”
Hasson, of Blacksmiths Lane, Shudy Camps, admitted perverting the course of justice and was jailed for 12 months.
Hasson, who had been drinking, had claimed that she had been attacked by the taxi driver after a trip from St Ives and had fought him off with her shoe, but the court heard the driver had not suffered any injuries.
Claire Matthews, prosecuting, said the taxi driver had been on bail for 44 days after being arrested for the false assault.
She told the court that after being arrested, Hasson was asked about the truth of her claim: “She maintained from first to last this was a true complaint.”
Mark Shelley, mitigating, said that although the offence was serious and must have been worrying for the taxi driver who was suspended from his job, police had very quickly doubted the truth of Hasson’s claim and had told Huntingdonshire District Council, the taxi licensing authority, that he was not dangerous.
He said the offence was “completely inexplicable” other than it came after she had been drinking and had an argument.
Mr Shelley said: “Once she started making the allegations she found it very difficult to back out of them. It was a moment of madness. I think that genuinely applies here.”
The court heard that Hasson, who looks after an ill older brother, used to work as a fines officer at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court.
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