Fake attempted murder claim lands duo in hot water

On Saturday, 5 October a 36-year-old woman reported an attempt on her life to the Brighton Beach SAP. She claimed she and a friend were standing outside her apartment when a car stopped nearby. Two men allegedly exited the vehicle and one of them shot her in the left calf. They then jumped back into their car and fled.

The duty officer and detective on call visited the scene. No blood stains or spatters were detected by the officers and no shell casings or projectiles were found to mark the area as a crime scene. Warrant Officer Karen Commins and Sergeant Paul van den Berg of the Brighton Beach SAP crime office returned to the scene during daylight and reported the same findings.

The pair interviewed the owner of the premises who said he was not aware of the incident. The officers asked him to be aware and report anything suspicious to them. Shortly thereafter, he contacted them, saying he had found metal fragments nearby. Sgt Van den Berg determined the metal to be the remains of a projectile, which being found elsewhere showed that the original scene of crime was reported falsely to police.

The area was searched and a casing was found in the walkway, along with blood spatter leading to the apartment rented by purported attempted murder victim. Police also found a blood-stained towel in the washing machine of her apartment.

Through investigations, W/O Commins determined that the victim’s 31-year-old friend who was with her during the supposed shooting had a licensed firearm of the same calibre as that of the casing found at the scene. He was contacted and requested to hand over his firearm for inspection. While questioning him, police learned that the claim of attempted murder was false.

In his statement to the police, he said he was leaving the apartment on the day in question, when one of the dogs became aggressive, biting him on the ankle. He drew his gun in fear, saying he did not intend to shoot the animal. As he tried to escape the grip of the dog, which had become more aggressive, a round accidentally discharged from his pistol, hitting the woman in the leg.

The woman was charged with defeating the course of justice and perjury and her shooter was charged with causing bodily injury to a person by negligently discharging a firearm and defeating the course of justice. They were released on a warning and appeared in Durban Court 10 on Tuesday, 8 October. A plea is yet to be made and they are expected back in court on Tuesday, 19 November.

W/O Commins and Sgt van den Berg are commended by Brighton Beach SAP management for their thorough investigation, which led to exposing the false reporting of a serious crime within 24 hours.

– erinh@dbn.caxton.co.za