September 30, 2012: Octavia Faustini of Rockland, Maine is allegedly raped by her former boyfriend. The man is a sex offender who has been convicted twice of sexual assault – in 2001 and 2009 – so he must be guilty, right? On August 1, 2013, she not he is convicted – of filing a false report.

Falsely accusing a man of good character is bad, but is falsely accusing a man of bad character any better in view of the heavy sentence he is likely to receive on conviction?

Now here we have the de rigueur special pleading. At trial, Faustini’s lawyer argued that the prosecution should not have been permitted to introduce in evidence text messages she had sent him after the alleged sexual assault, arguing it is common for women in abusive relationships to stay in contact with their abusers. In other words, the guy must be guilty because she says...

The biggest stunt pulled by the defendant though was to turn up at court holding a teddy bear. For real?

Octavia Faustini was eventually given a 60 day sentence, and would you believe this was not her first conviction for making a false allegation of sexual assault? That was in 2002, for which she was fined $100.

 

Two-time false accuser Octavia Faustini – photographed without her teddy bear.

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