Brojek, 33, pleaded guilty to making a false report. The rape allegation quickly unraveled when a taxi driver was questioned about picking up Brojek and hearing her account of going to meet a man who she met on a social media site. She ended up spending the night and coming home to a curious husband. The police also failed to see the men on CCTV cameras at the locations described by Brojek. She also refused to turn over underwear worn during the attack. Bizarrely, she picked Lithuanians as the culprits. It is not clear how she knew they were Lithuanian or whether she considered how the specificity would make the story less credible.
When pressed on details, Brojek then admitted that she lied about the three Lithuanians but then lied again that she did meet an Irish stranger at his apartment and that she dragged him from a bathroom and raped her. Police then interviewed the man and found an email from the woman telling him “Don’t tell police I was there.” Medical examinations of the accused showed no evidence of any injuries. Brojek refused to give police officers her mobile phone, but it was later seized as part of investigations where text messages sent between the defendant and the alleged rapist were discovered. The messages were sent on July 23 and into the next morning, the day she claimed she was raped. More text messages were sent on July 26 which said: “Did you like the other night?” A physical examination found no evidence of injuries. She then admitted to the hoax.
What is most striking about the sentence is that it stands in contrast with some rape hoax cases where no punishment is meted out. I have previously discussed the pattern of prosecutors in either not charging false rape victims or seeking relatively light sentences despite the incarceration of innocent men. (here, here, here, here, here, and here).
Perhaps the most infamous refusal to charge such a case involved Crystal Gale Mangum, 33, the stripper who falsely accused members of the Duke lacrosse team. She became a national celebrity as activists warned that anything but long criminal sentences would be proof of racism by the prosecutors. Durham D.A. Mike Nifong joined this lynch mob atmosphere despite the absence of forensic evidence to support the claim of rape. When he was removed and the lie was exposed however North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper refused to prosecute Mangum, who ruined the lives of these students and triggered racial tensions in the region. Cooper simply let her walk in a disgraceful but politically expedient decision.
However, it is the second lie that in my view warrants the greater punishment. While making up three Lithuanians might have not been likely to snare suspects, the second lie identified a man who could well have gone to jail.
Source: Fermanagh Herald