The police have warned residents that reporting a false case could lead to criminal charges.
This after perjury cases were opened against two community members who opened false cases at the police station.
Brooklyn police spokesperson Captain Collette Weilbach said on 22 February, a 28-year-old man from Nellmapius reported a case of armed robbery and kidnapping.
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According to him, he was at Menlyn Park Shopping Centre when four unknown men in a gold Toyota Avanza threatened him with a firearm.
“He was forced into their vehicle and they drove off with him.
“He was then searched and robbed of more than R16 000 in cash and his cellphone before being dropped off in Tembisa.”
The man alleged that he borrowed the money from somebody and it was his intention to pay it back just before he was robbed.
Weilbach said during investigations it was discovered that the man was never at Menlyn Park Shopping Centre.
“He fabricated the whole incident.”
In the second case, a female driver from Moreleta Park reported that she was hijacked on the corner of Atterbury and Lynnwood roads in Menlo Park on 8 March.
“She alleged that two vehicles blocked her in and an unknown man approached her, instructed her to get out of the vehicle and then drove off with her vehicle.”
Weilbach said the next day she phoned the investigating officer to admit that she lied about the hijacking.
She was in an accident and the vehicle was towed away.
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“Both perjury cases will be taken to court for a decision by the senior public prosecutor.”
Weilbach said intentional making a false statement under oath and opening a false case are very serious offences.
“Offenders will have to face the full force of the law when caught out,” she said.
“People who are making themselves guilty of this are not only abusing the police to solve their own personal problems, but they are also taking police officers away from real investigations.”
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She added that valuable resources were wasted and lives can even be endangered.
In an effort to rule out false cases, the police are inspecting all vehicles when cases of thefts out of motor vehicles are reported.
“If the vehicle has already been repaired, the police will request a receipt of such repairs.”
Furthermore, all housebreaking and other crime scenes are visited, possible eyewitnesses are interviewed and CCTV footage is viewed during the investigation.
She said it was also part of investigation procedures that the police ask questions when there is a delay in reporting cases.
“For successful investigation, all crimes must be reported immediately to the police,” concluded Weilbach.
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