SAPS sent on wild goose chase after Mhluzi man reports fake hijacking
The Provincial Commissioner of the SAPS in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant General Semakaleng Manamela, has strongly condemned the reporting of false cases by the community as it wastes state resources and money.
The condemnation comes after the arrest of a 32-year-old man on Sunday, 30 January on allegations of deliberately fabricated a case of hijacking a day prior.
According to the police report, the suspect is said to have registered a car-jacking case at the Mhluzi Police Station.
He then related his story to police, that on the said day around 20:30 he was traveling with three of his fellows, a man as well as two women when two suspects hi-jacked his vehicle, a Toyota Yaris, at Mhluzi.
Police at Mhluzi then mobilised their resources in hope to bring those responsible to justice however in the tour of their probe they discovered lack of consistency in some of the information that he provided on his statement, which raised suspicions to the investigators.
The investigation team then discovered that the man was involved in a car accident where a pedestrian was bumped, allegedly by his vehicle. It is said that some members of the public took the car keys from him. The man then went to inform police that he was hijacked.
It was then realised that a hijacking incident did not take place on that day.
Police at Mhluzi then explained to him about this discrepancy and that his actions amount to a criminal offence hence his arrest and a charge of perjury laid against him.
The suspect appeared at the Middelburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday where the matter was struck from the court roll due to outstanding information. The investigation, however continues.
The Provincial Commissioner also highlighted to the community the fact that opening false cases have a terrible impact in the fight against crime where limited resources and manpower that were supposed to have been channeled in areas where they were needed most would then be misdirected and wasted.
