A woman who falsely accused a man of sexually assaulting her after he helped fix her car has been sentenced to nine months in prison, according to reports.
Caitlyn Gray admitted lying to police when she claimed she was stalked, harassed and sexually assaulted by Kenan Basic in Bankstown, Sydney, late last year.
The married father of one furiously denied the allegations, but was forced to spend a week locked in Silverwater jail in Sydney, before Gray admitted making it all up, as reported by Mail Online.
Basic lost his job and was served divorce papers from his wife as a result of the false allegations made by Gray.
In November last year, Gray, who was 19 at the time, pulled into a service station in Bankstown after she was involved in a minor car accident.
On seeing Gray’s car had broken down, Basic offered to help her, spending two hours fixing her vehicle so she could get back on the road.
Gray told police that after helping her fix the car, Basic lunged at her, grabbing her breast and vagina, before demanding a hug and oral sex because she ‘owed’ him for his assistance.
She falsely accused Basic of then stalking her as she left the service station and drove through western Sydney.
Gray claimed her car then overheated, and when she got out to open the bonnet, Basic walked up to the driver’s side window and tapped on it asking ‘come on, come on, let’s go, what have I done wrong?’
She had alleged Basic groped her and tried to get into her car, adding that she drove away before calling her boyfriend, who then called police.
Gray signed a statement claiming she’d been assaulted by Basic and police arrested him the very next day.
Basic told cops he’d helped Gray fix her car before following her to make sure she didn’t have another breakdown.
He was arrested and charged with indecency, inciting someone to commit an act of indecency and stalking.
However, five days later police failed to find CCTV footage of the alleged incident, which Gray claimed took place on Milperra Road in Liverpool, Sydney.
Police reportedly called Gray to ask if she’d been grabbed on the breast and vagina, to which she replied: ‘yes, I have no reason to lie.’
The next day, she admitted fabricating the events when questioned by police.
She said she’d lied because she wanted Basic to go to prison because he’d said something ‘disgusting’ to her.
As reported by the Mail Online, she said:
I didn’t know what to do… I would have eventually come clean because I would have had a guilty conscience.
According to news.com.au, Gray appeared in the Bankstown
Local Court on Friday where she was sentenced to nine months in prison, with a non-parole period of five months.
Magistrate Glenn Walsh berated Gray’s ‘constant lies’ which put an innocent man in jail.
He said:
She wanted vengeance due to what she perceived of Basic’s behaviour.
This was not an error in judgment, she achieved her end of having him incarcerated.
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Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Journalist who started her career by producing The Royal Rosemurgey newspaper in 2004, which kept her family up to date with the goings on of her sleepy north east village. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining Tyla (formerly Pretty 52) in 2017, and progressing onto UNILAD in 2019.