Drumaness woman facing prison for malicious lies

Drumaness woman facing prison for malicious lies

11 July 2012

A DRUMANESS woman may be facing prison after telling police a “complete unvarnished tissue of lies” that landed an innocent young mother in police custody.

Twenty five year-old Nusheen Khalili, of Old Park Road, has been warned she may be jailed for wasting police time by creating a story of intimidation involving her partner’s former girlfriend Lisa Gallagher.

She may also face an additional perjury charge after a lie she told during her hearing in Downpatrick District Court was exposed by police.

The court heard that Khalili contacted police on September 12 last year, alleging that she had been intimidated by Miss Gallagher when they passed each other in Ballynahinch town.

She claimed she had been coming out of a local bakery with her five month-old baby when Miss Gallagher shouted out her car window that she would “rip her head off whether her child was in her arms or not.”

Khalili claimed the incident happened at 3.30pm and said she went to a public telephone box in a frightened state to report the incident to police. She also alleged that Miss Gallagher continued to intimidate her by driving past her while she made the call to police.

The hearing, which began last Tuesday, was adjourned until Monday morning after Deputy District Judge Mr. Gerry Trainor instructed police to trace the telephone from which Khalili’s call to police was made.

On Monday morning, a police officer confirmed that the call had not been made from a public call box but had been made from Khalili’s home, even though she claimed in court she did not have a landline.

The court also heard that the bakery Khalili claimed to have been leaving on the day of the alleged incident was closed at the time, while police records revealed Khalili had made the telephone call to police 15 minutes before she later alleged the incident had occurred.

CCTV footage also showed Miss Gallagher was in a local beauty salon when the incident was supposed to have taken place.

Convicting the defendant of wasteful employment of police time, Mr. Trainor warned Khalili that she had been convicted of a very serious offence that had led to Miss Gallagher’s arrest and to her being held in police custody.

He said the court would now consider sending her to prison and ordered a pre-sentence report to be completed by August 13 when her sentencing will take place.

Mr. Trainor imposed an immediate restraining order preventing Khalili from having any contact with Miss Gallagher for two years.

He also instructed prosecutors to consider bringing a perjury charge against Khalili relating to her claims in court that she had made the telephone call to police from a public call box.