A FAILED business robbery allegedly urged the suspected co-conspirators behind it to cook up a false case of carjacking and kidnapping, which was uncovered by an alert Pinetown SAPS sergeant.

Detective sergeant Wiseman Siyabonga Nyawose of the station’s trio crimes team – business robbery, carjacking, and house robbery – has been honoured with a certificate for his “outstanding investigative skills” which resulted in the charges of defeating the ends of justice and perjury being brought against Zola Silayi who had opened a case of carjacking and kidnapping.

During an interview over the statement Silayi had made when he opened the case of carjacking and kidnapping, Nyawose picked up discrepancies which urged him to investigate further.

These investigations included obtaining the travel logs from a tracker service of the vehicle Silayi had reported as hijacked.

The travel logs, said Nyawose, were not in agreement with what Silayi relayed during an interview.

Furthermore, the witnesses Silayi had told the police saw the carjacking incident in the Nazareth area on Saturday (May 30), at around 20:00, could not attest to this ever occuring. Detectives confirmed that this carjacking and kidnapping did not take place.

Additionally, Silayi was taken to the site, a shack, where he had alleged that he was kept overnight from May 30 till May 31, bound in cable ties.

Onsite on the evening of June 3, Nyawose, who was already suspicious of Silayi’s story of how he was hijacked and kidnapped, noticed more inconsistencies in the statement the latter had made as a complainant and the information he gave investigators during an interview.

Eventually Nyawose and two of his colleagues confronted Silayi and told him he had not been truthful, and the suspect buckled and made a confession which subsequently led to his arrest for defeating the ends of justice and perjury.

Also read: Suspected Pinetown kidnappers face additional charges

Nyawose also found that the taxi which Silayi, as its driver, had reported as hijacked to the police, had been found at a failed business robbery in Amanzimtoti.

Nyawose said the taxi and another vehicle found at the scene were loaded with car tyres, which are suspected to have been what Silayi and crew were targeting.

Silayi, who appeared at the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court on June 4, led Nyawose and his team to Lindokuhle Dlamini who was allegedly involved in the unsuccessful business robbery.

Dlamini, a former taxi driver who was allegedly dismissed from this job for his suspected links to the robbery of car tyres, has been arrested by the police in Amanzimtoti in connection with the attempted business robbery.

“Another suspect wanted for the failed business robbery is still at large. It is believed this suspect is from Eswatini and we suspect he was the head of this operation,” said Nyawose.

Nyawose said the SAPS have recently recorded a spike in cases of business robbery, particularly where car tyres are stolen.

“Silayi confessed that they were the syndicate behind those cases,” said Nyawose.

Nyawose was commended by the Pinetown SAPS station commander, Colonel Ronnie Heeralall, for his sterling investigative abilities in detecting this false case. 

“False cases of this nature create panic and uncertainty in the community and the business sector, which has far-reaching consequences. The suspect in this case, if convicted at court, would face direct imprisonment,” said Heeralall.

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