Lesbian admits punching herself in the face in fake anti-gay attack
Mari Poindexter claimed she was assaulted in a car park last year.
A woman who made headlines after claiming she had been attacked by a homophobe outside a bar has now recanted her story, after she admitted to the police that she made it up.
Last August, Mari Poindexter claimed that she had been watching a concert with her family when a man yelled homophobic abuse at them and called her a “cross-dressing fag.”
Poindexter also claimed that later that night, the same man attacked her in the parking lot of a nearby bar – punching her in the face and spitting on her.
The university instructor then shared her story on social media causing it to go viral, prompting media coverage and a public statement of support from her place of work.
However, when her supporters pressured her into reporting the attack to the police, she saw her lies spiral out of control.
Poindexter stopped cooperating with authorities when she learned that they were reviewing CCTV from the parking lot.
She later told police that she had fabricated the latter half of her story.
According to police, Poindexter “made the story up about being assaulted by a male subject at the bar and punched herself in the eye because she wanted to raise awareness about the social hardships of people in the LGBT community.”
“On the night in question, she was accosted, by another patron at a local concert,” her lawyer told Morning Sun News.
“The assault included many homophobic remarks, [and was] very mean spirited.”
He added that the incident had angered Poindexter and that she had wanted to use it to highlight the homophobia experienced by her community – but admitted she had “made the mistake of exaggerating the assault.”
Poindexter was originally charged with lying to a police officer and making a false report.
The charge of lying to a police officer was later dropped when Poindexter agreed to plead guilty on the other charge and she was given six months probation and fined $225.
