Everest woman, uncle are charged for staging own kidnapping

The Springs police have noted with concern an increase in perjury and defeating the ends of justice cases.

This comes after the SAPS arrested a 36-year-old Slovo Park woman and her uncle after investigations revealed she had allegedly staged her fake kidnapping and demanded ransom from her husband.

On May 16, the police received a complaint about a woman allegedly kidnapped from a local shopping complex.

It was reported that she had left her home to go to the bank and later tried to contact her husband, but he was unavailable.

Police spokesperson Sergeant Themba Tshabalala said a few hours later, the husband received two photos sent from the woman’s phone showing her tied up with a cloth in her mouth and her eyes covered.

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“Following that, the husband received messages from the alleged kidnappers threatening to kill his wife and demanding he deposit R50 000 for her release,” said Tshabalala.

“He later received a call telling him his wife had been injected.”

Tshabalala said the husband reported the kidnapping to the police, where the case was assigned to the Negotiators and Kidnapping Task Unit, which tried to contact the kidnappers but could not reach them in the early hours of May 17.

“An application was sent to activate a cellphone grabber to try and locate the woman’s phone. However, the approval was only received on the evening of the next day.”

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Tshabalala added that the SAPS Crime Prevention Unit received a complaint of mob justice in the Gugulethu Everest informal settlement, where they found an assaulted man who was allegedly involved in the kidnapping.

“It was later discovered that the man was the woman’s uncle. Police officials questioned him about the kidnapping, to which he allegedly confessed that the woman was the mastermind and he only assisted her.”

A case of perjury and defeating the ends of justice was opened against the woman and her uncle. On Monday, they appeared in the Springs Magistrate’s Court for their first appearance and bail application.

The Springs SAPS warns, “We are sending a strong warning to anyone contemplating faking their kidnappings for any reason or wasting state resources by opening false cases that they will meet with the full wrath of the law.

“Kidnapping is not a matter to joke about, and the police have worked hard and stretched resources in a quest to prevent kidnapping, which has seen a slight increase of late.”