Woman planted knives in mailbox to frame ex

A COVID-19 recovery manager framed her ex-husband by planting knives in her own mailbox and separately accused him of rape, for which he was imprisoned.

The woman has pleaded guilty to two charges of making a false report to police. Picture: David Crosling

A COVID-19 recovery manager allegedly planted knives in her own letterbox and sent fake threatening texts to frame her ex-husband.

The woman bought the knives from Bunnings and claimed they had been left at her home by her ex-husband, who she alleged had raped her.

She also sent herself and friends menacing messages, including graphic threats of rape and murder, which she made appear to have come from him.

A magistrate hearing the case has accused police of a “white wash” and demanded to know why serious charges against her had been dropped.

The man, the father of the woman’s only child, was imprisoned for 10 days after being charged with rape as a result of her claims.

Those rape charges have since been dropped and the woman’s ex-husband told the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court that the allegations had ruined his life.

The woman outside court. Picture: David Crosling

In a victim impact statement he said he’d lost his job, access to his son, his friends, had been labelled a rapist and suffered the pain and humiliation of his family visiting him in jail.

“Everything I had worked hard for was stripped away from me overnight,” he said.

“I was disabled in society. I was not able to hold my head high.”

He said individuals “who ruin people’s lives” should be held accountable and ­punished.

“I also urge the justice system of Australia to serve the deserved and appropriate punishment for individuals who abuses (sic) the system purely because they can,” he said. “In my case, I am (an) innocent man who was sent to jail due to false ­allegations.”

The woman – aged in her 30s, who the court heard now works as a Covid-19 response recovery manager for a community health service – has pleaded guilty to two charges of making a false report to police over the knives and texts, and two counts of harassing witnesses.

Court documents reveal that her ex was arrested in April last year after she claimed he had threatened to stab her to death.

She told officers that she had CCTV footage and audio of the threat but repeatedly “stalled” in handing it over, eventually claiming the cameras weren’t working and providing what appeared to be an automated voice recording.

She then made 10 reports to police of finding knives or blades in her letterbox over six weeks.

“As there has now been 10 incidents of knifes (sic) and blades in my letter (box) which is intimidating and frighting can we discuss an option for this,” the woman emailed police in June last year.

“How can he be held accountable? Is there anything that can be done from your perspective? Apart from me going underground?”

Officers uncovered CCTV and credit card statements revealing the woman had bought the knives from different Bunnings stores on several occasions.

When she was caught, she claimed to police that her ex-husband had made her do it.

Police also believed vile text messages sent to herself and two witnesses purporting to be from the ex-husband were actually sent by the woman herself.

The messages sent to one associate warned that the woman “will be burnt alive after being raped, beaten and stabbed”.

The messages also included images of a man holding a large blood-covered knife, a burning effigy of a woman and a pornographic image.

The texts made repeated demands that she drop the rape charges.

“Police formed the opinion that the accused was sending herself the messages to herself with the intention of (her ex) being blamed,” court documents said.

Magistrate Peter Reardon said this week that the case “has all the hallmarks of a person who’s setting somebody else up”.

During an earlier hearing, he was stunned that more ­serious charges against the woman had been dropped and said he’d be taking it up with the Attorney-General if he did not get a full explanation from police.

“These offences are most heinous as far as I’m concerned,” he said earlier.

“I don’t think I’ve seen in all the years of practising law anything so outrageous that’s taken place in this sort of ­proceedings.”

Mr Reardon said: “I’m not going to sit here and judge on a whitewash in relation to these matters. I want a full ­explanation from the OPP (Office of Public Prosecutions) and the police.”

Both defence lawyers and police prosecutors agreed that a community corrections order was appropriate for the woman, who will be sentenced next month.