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Woman who harassed ex-partner back in custody

Marine´ Lourens

A woman who faked a pregnancy and harassed her former partner for more than a year by making dozens of false complaints to police, has been rearrested three weeks after being released on bail after allegedly breaching a protection order in relation to another victim.

Nicola Sara Watts, a 35-year-old caregiver, appeared via video-link in the Christchurch District Court yesterday. She has been charged with two counts of breach of a protection order.

Police allege Watts contacted Crimestoppers and impersonated another person to try to pin the blame for her previous offending on someone else, even though she had already pleaded guilty to the earlier charges. The person she impersonated is not her former partner but has links to him.

The Press reported earlier that Watts pleaded guilty to six charges in April, including a representative charge of making a false statement, perverting the course of justice, and breach of a protection order.

The charges related to offending that started after Watts and the victim, who she met online, ended their relationship in October 2019. Watts lied and told her ex that she was pregnant with his child but he refused to believe her.

In November 2019, Watts went to the Christchurch South police station to make a formal complaint.

In a sworn statement, she alleged her ex had assaulted her, that the bruises had been seen by her doctor and that she was sick because of her pregnancy.

Watts later told police she did not want to pursue the assault charge but continued making dozens of complaints alleging her former partner was harassing her.

When she did not have any evidence of the harassment, she fabricated some. Watts created various email addresses and Snapchat accounts using variations of his name, and used them to send herself threatening and abusive messages.

She sent emails to her employer to make it seem like her ex was sabotaging her employment. She sent emails to Oranga Tamariki to paint a picture of him ruining her home life. In total, Watts made 55 complaints to police.

All the while she continued with her pregnancy claims, even sending the victim a sonogram photograph she said was their baby. She later claimed to have given birth to a boy and falsified a birth certificate for the alleged baby.

Watts was remanded in custody to September 29 when she will apply for bail. She has not pleaded to the new charges.

She is set to be sentenced on the earlier charges on October 27.

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en-nz

2021-09-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-09-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/281865826618948

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