A travel agent has been handed an £85,000 court bill and a suspended prison sentence after suing over "extraordinary" false claims that her boss attacked her at work with a biro.
Parivash Kiani sued her employers, travel marketing company Aviareps Plc, claiming they were liable for her line manager having stabbed her twice in the hand with a pen at her desk in February 2015.
The mum-of-two produced two photos, supposedly taken soon after the assault, showing puncture wounds to her right hand, and claimed she was mentally scarred by her ordeal.
But close analysis of one image disclosed a document in the background of the photo dated long after the incident, and 52-year-old Kiani ultimately admitted the pictures were fakes.
After losing an employment tribunal fight over the allegations and then being found "fundamentally dishonest" in a subsequent county court claim, she has now been handed an £85,000 bill and suspended sentence for contempt of court at the High Court.
Her former employers took her to the High Court in London last week, accusing her of contempt in using the faked pictures to bolster her claim against the company.
Sketching out the case against Mrs Kiani, Mr Justice Martin Spencer said: "She must have deliberately in 2017 stabbed herself twice in the hand, waited for the stab wound to scab over, and then either herself - or through another person - taken these pictures of her hand in order to pretend that they were photos taken in February 2015 two years earlier, and represented the position as a result of the alleged assault."
Barrister Paul Higgins for Aviareps branded her actions "extraordinary".
The judge said her case had its roots back in January 2015 when Kiani was disciplined at work for breaching client confidentiality, and later had her post "terminated" in December that year.
She subsequently went to an Employment Tribunal alleging unfair dismissal and also claiming her line manager, Fawad Shaida, had stabbed her with a biro or pencil as she got up from her desk in February 2015.
She was left shouting out in pain after her boss "stabbed her twice with a biro causing her hand to bleed", she claimed.
The attack had occurred as she got up from her desk and walked towards the fax machine, Kiani had said.
"He said something to me so I stopped, he walked towards me and was standing in front of me when he grabbed my hand and then stabbed it randomly with a pen twice."
She claimed her alleged wound left a legacy of chronic pain, forced her to switch to using her left hand, and caused lasting trauma, nightmares and flashbacks.
However, Mr Shaida told the employment tribunal all that had occured was that whilst "joking around" with Mrs Kiani, he had "picked up her biro and gently tapped her hand leaving an ink mark".
After her case was thrown out by the employment tribunal in 2017, Kiani pressed on with a £3,000 compensation claim in court against Aviareps, alleging they failed to protect her from her violent boss.
But in March 2020, Judge Heather Baucher at Central London County Court rejected her case, finding that Mrs Kiani's account of the incident "defied logic".
The judge also accepted Mr Shaida's version of events, labelling him an "impressive witness who had faced the court with dignity and calmness".
Mr Shaida had even expressed sorrow for the loss of his former friendship with Kiani, having attended family birthdays at her home.
On top of that, Judge Baucher ruled that Kiani "deliberately manufactured the photo evidence supporting her account to bolster the veracity of her claim".
"This was a minor office incident," she concluded, throwing out her "fundamentally dishonest" case and ordering Kiani to pay £35,000 in court fees.
Last week, Aviareps' lawyers hauled Kiani to the High Court, alleging a deliberate contempt of court in cooking up the photo evidence.
Kiani, of North Finchley, London, ultimately admitted attempting to "interfere with the course of justice" and was given a six-month suspended sentence by Mr Justice Martin Spencer.
The judge decided to suspend her sentence after noting that her actions were not motivated by greed, as Kiani had only sued for £3,000.
He also highlighted her "significant psychological condition" and added: "She has in a totally misguided way sought to achieve some vindication for her position as a result of some perceived injustice which she suffered in 2015 which she was unable to let go."
On top of the £35,000, Kiani was ordered to pick up her former employer's legal fees for the committal hearing, which they estimated at £50,000.
