Bluff teen pleads guilty to faking kidnapping

The 19-year-old Mary Dilley said she planned the hoax kidnapping with her friend, 19-year-old Brandon Webster, to see if her parents cared about her. On Sunday, 15 September, she had Webster tie her up and take photos of her with her mobile phone. These images were sent to her mother, along with a voice recording by Webster, who pretended to be a man who had found Dilley’s phone on the beach covered in blood.

Brighton Beach SAP was informed and a task team began a search for the allegedly abducted youth. Police phoned Dilley’s phone and were surprised when she answered it herself with no indication she was in distress. Unaware she was talking to the police, she arranged to meet with the caller. The following morning she and Brandon were arrested at his home.

Magistrate Lily Mpongose presided over the case in which both Dilley and Webster pleaded guilty to defeating the course of justice. Mpongose recognised that the duo were remorseful, but said it did not excuse their actions. A fine of R3,000 was prescribed or a sentence of six months in prison, wholly suspended for five years on condition that they do not commit the same crime. They were also declared unfit to possess a firearm for five years.

The punitive sentence imposed was in recognition of state resources being wasted on a fictitious kidnapping.

– erinh@dbn.caxton.co.za

Kidnapped teenager found – the original report.