A teenager who appeared in the Corporate Area Res-ident Magistrate's Court recently as a complainant ended up on the other side of the law when she changed her statement, claiming she lied on the man charged for abusing her and stealing her BlackBerry.

Phillipa Akins, 18, reversed her statement and told the court she lied that Richard Madden assaulted her and stole her phone.

The teen said she was convinced by Madden's cousin to tell police he stole her BlackBerry, after which he was arrested and charged.

Senior Resident Magistrate Judith Pusey rubbished Akins' explanation and ordered that she be charged for creating public mischief. Akins was handcuffed and told to wait to have her case mentioned.

When her case was called up, she was asked by RM Pusey why she did such a thing in which she replied softly, "I was upset with him your honour, and his cousins influenced me to do it."

simple larceny

The senior magistrate told Akins that Madden was looking at five years for simple larceny and three years for assault and her courtroom was not a playpen.

"The arrest was made on June 12 and today is June 29, therefore you had approximately 17 days to retract your statement," said the senior magistrate.

The court later found out from Madden that the two were both an item.

"Mi a beg you, your honour, if you can give her a chance ... she young and she don't know her danger, even though I warned her about my family. Your honour, dem bad-mind mi and dem try all sort of things to convince her that I am not a good person. Your honour, mi a build mi house and dem nuh like that," said Madden.

The court was also told that Madden was the person who bought the phone for Akins for $12,000.

RM Pusey said the only reason she was hesitant to send her away for some time was because of her age.

However, she was offered bail in the sum of $5,000 in her own surety and told to return to court July 16 when the matter will again be mentioned.