Wife Stages Own Kidnapping, Demands Ransom From Husband

A South African woman will appear before the Verulam Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, April 5, after she staged her kidnapping and demanded ransom from her businessman husband.

On Monday, April 3, in the late afternoon, police were notified of an attempted kidnapping on Clay Field Drive in Phoenix, South Africa. 

Colonel Robert Netshiunda, a spokesman for the South African Police Service (SAPS) in KwaZulu-Natal, said it had been reported that the lady had left the place of her business to use the bathroom at her house, which was close by.

A short while later, she called her husband to inform him that she had been taken hostage and begged him to pay an unknown sum of money to secure her freedom.

Later the husband received another call from a man who threatened to hurt the woman if the money was not paid.

The 47-year-old was formally charged with perjury after intelligent police inquiries, according to Netshiunda, showed that the woman had faked her abduction.

“Police are sending a strong warning to anyone contemplating to fake their kidnappings for any reason or waste state resources by opening false cases that they will be met with the flaming wrath of the law.

“Kidnapping is not a matter to joke about, and police have been working hard and stretching resources to prevent kidnapping, which has seen a slight increase of late,” the police spokesperson said.