A woman who filed a false report against her ex’s girlfriend was sentenced to an eight-month jail term by a Magistrates’ Court which observed that the accused had not learnt from past mistakes.

Francine Cini, a 32-year old mother from Żebbuġ, Gozo, was targeted by criminal prosecution over a false report which she filed at the Victoria police station one evening back in May last year claiming that her ex-partner’s girlfriend had slapped the four-year old daughter of the estranged couple.

It all began when the mother called at the police station as she regularly did to collect her two daughters, aged four and seven, after their father dropped them off when his access time-window was over.

Shortly after her former partner had driven off, the woman reported that the man’s girlfriend had slapped the younger girl after the latter had kicked up a fuss over a tablet. The woman alleged that the scene had been recounted to her by her daughters whom she believed since “they only told small lies”.

The accused’s ex and his girlfriend were summoned to the police station where the latter denied slapping the girl.

Her testimony was later corroborated by the elder of the two girls who claimed that it had been her mother who had told her to say that her sister had been smacked by her father’s girlfriend.

Indeed, a police sergeant had overheard the seven-year old tell her mother at the police station “You told me to say so… ” Yet when confronted by this fact, the mother had insisted that she believed her daughter since there had been similar incidents before and besides, it was not her duty to verify the facts. That was a matter for the police, she had said.

The episode resulted in charges being instituted against the mother for creating the traces of an offence which did not exist and for filing a false report.

The court in Gozo, presided over by magistrate Joseph Mifsud, concluded that there was sufficient evidence proving the second charge though acquitting the accused of the first accusation.

Moreover, the court observed that this had not been the first time that the accused had filed false reports, an earlier one claiming that her ex abused of cocaine. That report had landed her with an effective jail term which was subsequently converted to a fine on appeal owing to the fact that she was a mother who needed to take care of her two minor children.

However, the accused had wasted all her chances and this time the court was determined to take a firm stance, declaring her guilty of lodging the false report.

“Our society deserves protection against persons like the accused who believe they may continue to take everyone, including the Courts, for a ride”, declared magistrate Mifsud.

The accused was also ordered to fork out €392.90 by way of court expert expenses.