Woman Sentenced to 10 Years for Lying About Being Raped

On Thursday, a woman in Britain was sentenced to 10 years in prison for falsely accusing a number of men of rape. The woman, 25-year-old Jemma Beale, accused six men of sexually assaulting her. She also accused nine men of rape on four different occasions throughout a period of three years. Apparently all of the men were strangers.

However, investigators discovered the allegations were fake. Beale was found guilt on four counts of perverting the court of justice. Beale was also convicted of four counts of perjury.

Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith said that the trial revealed that Beale was a very convincing liar. He proceeded to tell Beale that she seemed to enjoy being seen as a victim.

The judge scolded Beale about how her false allegations could potentially impact real rape victims. The judge said the allegations would be highly publicized and this may increase the chances of actual guilty men walking free. He added that cases such as Beale's put real rape victims in a position where they may not go to the police because they think they won't be believed.

Beale's lies and false accusations had serious consequences for the men. One of the men she accused, Mahad Cassim, was sentenced to seven years in prison. Beale also receive about $14,000 for compensation. In total, police spent around 6,400 hours of their time looking into Beale's false allegations. It also cost more than $300,000.

Cassim spent nearly three years in jail. He was released in 2013 after he appealed his conviction after evidence surfaced that Beale was lying. Beale's lies led to multiple men being arrested and one left the country while he was out on bail.

In a statement, Cassim told the court how his life was impacted due to the false rape accusations. He said before he had been falsely accused, he had dreamed of becoming a successful businessman and he wanted to be happy and eventually have a family. He added that he is currently working on being happy but he has such a long way to go.

Beale also falsely accused Noam Shazad, a stranger to her, of groping her in a bar in July 2012. She said he and a group of other men then raped her. Beale said she was also assaulted with barbed wire, and she injured herself so it would look like she really had been.

In another lie, Beale said two strangers sexually assaulted her near her home. Two months after that incident allegedly took place, she said she was raped by four other men.

As for Beale, she maintains her innocence. Her attorney said Beale stands by her claims. The attorney added that if his client had her time again, then Beale would still plead not guilty and she would contest the trial.