Woman held for hoax kidnapping amid another viral hijacking video

A 29-year-old woman has been arrested for perjury, defeating the ends of justice and fraud after she allegedly falsely reported a hijacking and kidnapping at a Soweto police station on Thursday.

In a statement, police said the woman went to the Protea Glen police station and told officers how on Wednesday evening, her car was taken by unknown men in Mohlakeng township in Randfontein, west of Johannesburg.

She alleged that the men had put her in the boot of her car and had driven around with her.

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“A team comprising of senior detectives, members of crime intelligence and other police response units that worked throughout the night to locate the ‘hijacked woman’, swiftly established discrepancies in the supposed victim’s statement.

“It emerged on a further probe that the said hijacking and kidnapping report was false and this was subsequently corroborated by the woman’s confession that she was never kidnapped. Police confiscated the car of the suspect that she alleged was hijacked and her two cellphones, including the one she claimed was taken by the ‘hijackers’,” the South African Police Service (Saps) said.

The woman is due to appear in the Protea Magistrate’s Court on Friday.

The woman’s alleged hijacking and kidnapping trended on social media, and apparently led to good samaritans tracking her down using their own resources.

WTF I’m Really Heartbroken ???? and disappointed by Simphiwe She had all of us worried people can be Heartless ???????? #FindSimphiwe #FindSimphiweManzini pic.twitter.com/wrDisBANrc

— #KingBebe ???????? (@KingMntungwa) May 20, 2021

Police said upon learning of the woman’s “kidnapping”, “maximum resources” from Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the North West provinces were deployed to track down the suspect’s car.

“While at this stage the motive behind this alleged fabrication is unclear, this is something that should be condemned as mischievous and malicious given the time and resources that were promptly deployed as soon as police learnt of this supposed hijacking and kidnapping,” Saps said.

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Meanwhile, in a separate incident, footage has emerged of another woman being forcibly pulled from her car and shoved into the her boot by unknown assailants, apparently in Centurion, Tshwane.

In tweet posted by Crime Stoppers International vice-president and self-styled social cohesion advocate, Yusuf Abramjee, the hijackers’ car stops behind the woman’s white car, get out and approach her driver’s side window.

She is then pulled out and dragged to the back of her car, kicking and screaming. She can be seen on the CCTV footage being kicked and hit with an unknown object by the men, before being put into the boot.

Watch below

Attempted Hijacking & Kidnapping in Centurion. Woman followed from a filing station. She was hit with a hammer numerous times as she was trying to get away as the suspects were forcing her in the back of the boot. #CrimeWatch pic.twitter.com/8qZ1dGOrPF

— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) May 19, 2021