A judge has ordered a New Brunswick man to pay his neighbour $55,000 in damages for falsely accusing him of rape.

Stephen Craig Melanson successfully sued Bradley Angus Sellars for defamation in the Court of King’s Bench.

Sellars “engaged in a persistent and malicious pattern of misconduct by publicly accusing (Melanson) of serious criminal offences without concrete evidence to support these claims,” Justice Christa Bourque said in a recent summary judgment awarding Melanson $30,000 in general damages and $25,000 in aggravated and punitive damages.