Astria Berwick, 27 has been jailed after claiming a taxi driver sexually assaulted her at knifepoint in his vehicle, after a recording application on his Smartphone proved otherwise.
Berwick slashed herself in the face with a knife to convince police that she had been violated and attacked by Mohammed Asif, aged 34. The driver was arrested within three hours and taken to a police station in handcuffs.
He was stripped and spent a day in a cell until officers eventually listened to the recording and discovered Berwick was lying.
As Berwick begins her 16 month jail sentence, Mr Asif,, said that without the app he would now be the one in jail. The father of two said: ‘Nothing like this has ever happened to me before, and I have never been involved with the police. Now I am terrified if I pick a single lady up.
‘I think her sentence was too short. She could have completely ruined my life. She should have got three or four years at the very least.’
Mr Asif used his Samsung Galaxy S2’s voice recorder to tape Berwick’s 11-mile journey from Nottingham to her home in Bingham after his base told him she appeared to be drunk when making the 4.50pm booking in February. He said that while the journey went smoothly, apart from when he had to pull over in a lay-by to allow her to vomit, Berwick argued about the £17 fare when he picked her up, which he believes may be why she made the allegation against him.
By Aneesa Malik
