A WOMAN who lied about being attacked and raped in a park in Farnham has been sentenced to 16 months in prison.
Maria Brustenga-Vilaseca, from Roman Way in the town, claimed she was sexually assaulted as she walked home?from the railway station on April 20 this year - but it was later discovered that she had actually been more than 20 miles away in Addlestone at the time.
The allegation led to a lengthy police investigation and at one stage a young local man was arrested on suspicion of the offence.
Brustenga-Vilaseca, 27,?admitted?a charge of perverting the course of justice in September and was sentenced at Guildford Crown Court on Friday.
Speaking about the case, prosecutor Alexia Durran explained how the defendant, who at the time had been living with her sister and brother-in-law in Farnham, went to her GP on April 21 saying she was concerned about her health after suffering a sexual assault.
She told her doctor that the previous night?she had been returning by train from her job in Woking and, after leaving Farnham station, was?grabbed, pulled to the ground and then raped by a unknown man in Borelli Walk.
Her GP?informed the police and an investigation was launched, with officers?carrying out?door-to-door inquiries in the local area and forensics teams examining the 'crime' scene.
But the court heard that a review of CCTV footage around the station area on the night in question found no sightings of the defendant.
It was later discovered that Brustenga-Vilaseca had in fact been at a party in Addlestone where she had?sexual intercourse with a man.
She was interviewed again by detectives and eventually admitted lying about the alleged rape in Farnham.
Speaking in mitigation of her client, defence solicitor Katy Thorne told the court that Brustenga-Vilaseca was a vulnerable woman who had come to the UK from a rural background in Spain, having had a sheltered, traditional Catholic upbringing.
Ms Thorne?pointed out that?she had not initiated the police investigation, had indeed refused to give a formal statement and had pleaded with?officers on at least seven occasions to bring their investigations to a halt.
She added that unlike most cases of this nature, Brustenga-Vilaseca had not attempted to directly implicate or accuse anyone specific as being her attacker, and that the arrest of a man had been due to an unfortunate coincidence rather than?any malicious intent.
"Clearly innocent"
A psychiatric report?concluded that while the defendant?had not been suffering from a mental disorder at the time of making the rape claim, there was a suggestion that she had gone through a traumatic experience at some point in her life.
Ms Thorne added her client was currently being prescribed anti-psychotic medication, and that there were concerns about her committing self-harm if she was given a custodial sentence.
In his ruling, Judge Neil Stewart gave Brustenga-Vilaseca credit for her guilty plea and said he had taken into account reports about her mental health and various good character references.
In passing a sentence of 16 months' imprisonment however, he pointed out that Brustenga-Vilaseca’s decision to make the false claim had led to thousands of hours of wasted police time and the arrest of an innocent man.
He said the most serious aspect?though was the fact that false claims of rape had the potential to harm the investigation and prosecution of genuine sexual assaults.
"It damages the administration of justice in this extremely sensitive area," Judge Stewart added.
Surrey Police said Brustenga-Vilaseca's allegation had borne similarities to a previous attempted rape?in Borelli Walk four months earlier and that it had "heightened fears in the local community".
The local man who was arrested?had unfortunately fitted a "detailed description" she had given of her attacker but he "was clearly innocent", police added.
Following the sentencing, Detective Inspector Fran Breslin said: "Brustenga-Vilaseca’s actions not only caused considerable and unnecessary alarm to the local community but also undermine the ordeal real victims of sexual assault and rape go through.
"Such offences can have a devastating effect on people, many of whom are too frightened to come forward.?I would like to reassure those victims that they have nothing to fear in reporting genuine offences to us and we will always thoroughly investigate such crimes.
“Surrey Police invested a huge amount of time and resources into this investigation which understandably caused a huge amount of concern among the local community.”
Police also said Brustenga-Vilaseca?"never gave any clear motive for making up the allegation".
