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Gisborne Herald
December 30 2004
False complaint wasted time
A woman was ordered
to pay $500 to police who wasted time investigating false complaints she made
about her ex-husband, Gisborne District Court heard.
Ruth O'Neill, 38,
mother, pleaded guilty to five charges of making false statements and was
ordered to come up for sentence if called upon.
O'Neill was also
placed on supervision, to include psychiatric assessment and counselling as
directed.
Judge Stan Thorburn said
that with no criminal history, O'Neill was clearly not a troublemaker and her
atypical behaviour had been caused by separation stress.
Police said that
O'Neill's allegations — that her ex- husband and his associates had threatened
her, burgled her and left a threatening note on her door, were all
fabricated.
O'Neill had penned
the note "Die Ruth and kids" herself but did not admit it until a
year into the investigation.
Neighbours were
interviewed, as were two suspects.
Two detectives were
flown to Auckland to investigate, police said.
Judge Thorburn said
it was especially worrying that O'Neill had allowed her children to believe
that the threat was real.
O'Neill told police
her actions were attempts to force police to further investigate her previous
concerns about her husband.
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