February 28, 1996: Canadian woman Cathy Fordham is allegedly attacked in her own home by a former lover, and is treated at a hospital for the resulting injuries – which were almost certainly self-inflicted. Whatever, on April 29 she makes a formal allegation of rape against Jamie Nelson, with whom she has history. Nelson is arrested, tried by a judge alone, and given what in the US would have been considered an extremely lenient sentence.
This notorious Canadian case was the subject of an excellent 2009 documentary by Ida Eva Zielinska. It will suffice here to say that eventually Fordham made one false allegation too many, Nelson was cleared on appeal, and Fordham was given a 6 month sentence for threatening a former lover. Sadly, it was not quite happy ever after for Nelson, but at least unlike Scott Espinosa, whose mother committed suicide while he was in prison, Nelson’s father lived long enough to see his son cleared.
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