A MAN who was unable to pay his bills, made a false report of being robbed at gunpoint along Solomon Mahlangu Drive, but was quickly found out and arrested by Brighton Beach SAPS officers.
The 38-year-old man claimed the robbery happened on Monday, 25 May, while he was withdrawing cash from an ATM at a petrol station along Solomon Mahlangu Drive. He said two men, one of them armed, ordered him to hand over the R5,000 he had withdrawn and his mobile phone.
Brighton Beach SAPS Detective Karen Commins made her way to the petrol station to investigate. She spoke to employees, none of whom were aware of the robbery, and she reviewed CCTV footage, which showed no-one was withdrawing money at the time of the alleged robbery.
She called the man and asked for a bank statement to confirm the withdrawal, but never received one. With all the evidence she uncovered, Det Commins believed the man had lied about the robbery. Warrant Officer Brett Cullen accompanied the man to the ATM, where he described the events of the robbery and confirmed it was the same ATM where he was robbed.
On Saturday, 30 May, the man agreed to meet with Warrant Officer Marius Van Der Looy at the police station, where he confessed to the perjury. He said he had been unable to pay his vehicle instalment and rent payment for the month and believed he would only get a reference number from the police and had not expected a case to be registered.
He was charged with perjury, appeared in the Durban Regional Court on Monday, 1 June and was released on bail.
Brighton Beach SAPS commends Detective Commins on the thorough preliminary investigation which led to the man admitting he made a false police report.
