A woman who made a false rape allegation to gardaí seven years ago has been jailed for 12 months by Judge Desmond Hogan at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Melanie Gibbons (26) fled to England after failing to appear at Dublin District Court in relation to the offence in May 1998.
An extradition warrant was issued for her arrest last February and she was taken into custody by gardaí at Holyhead on June 18th after spending two weeks in Holloway Prison.
Gibbons, from Hardwicke Street, Dublin 1, pleaded guilty to making a false statement at Kevin Street Garda station on December 16th, 1996, that she had been raped. She has no previous convictions.
Det Garda Garvan Ware told Ms Caroline Biggs BL, prosecuting, that Gibbons made the complaint after meeting a man and claimed he raped her in his flat in the Dublin 8 area. Gardai began an investigation in which the man was interviewed.
After further inquires were made the allegations were proved to be false and Gibbons was arrested. Det Gda Ware said there was no apparent reason for her to make up the claim but said she was suffering from depression and her mental state was not right. She later admitted she did not have sex with the man and he never forced himself upon her.
Judge Hogan, who banned any information on the man being published, said he did not intend to hold Gibbons in custody any longer and suspended the last six months of the sentence, taking into account that she had been in custody since the start of June.