Crime that betrays women, too

STUDENT Sophie Pointon has been jailed for 16 months for falsely accusing a taxi-driver of sexually assaulting her.

The 22-year-old, who was a criminology undergraduate at the time, invented the lie after arguing with the Muslim driver who refused to accept a £10 note soaked in oil from a kebab she was holding. His refusal was founded on religious reasons, although he would also have had a case on the grounds of basic decency. After she’d rowed with the driver following a drunken night out in Leeds, Pointon told police that the father-of-five had molested her. She later continued the deception by signing a statement describing her ‘horrendous’ ordeal.

Her jail sentence might seem harsh, particularly when compared with the one given to Muhammad Mohsan, a teenager who was also recently jailed for 16 months — for sexually assaulting five women on London buses over a period of two years.

Yet Pointon’s crime had serious repercussions, too. Behind the luxury of anonymity, she could wilfully and spitefully have ruined this man’s life.

False accusations of rape and assault are a crime against men — but they are also a crime against other women. Especially against those who really have been sexually attacked or raped, but fail to convince a judge and jury of the merits of their case.

Women such as Pointon make it that much harder for the real victims to get justice. And that is their disgrace.