Simphiwe Manzini nabbed after confessing to fake Hijacking incident
She has been trending of late and she has made all sorts of headlines of late. Recently she made social media worried when she shared a series of texts on social media claiming that she was hijacked and allegedly being raped.
The police in Gauteng have arrested a 28-year-old woman who took to social media on Wednesday night to publicise a hijacking that allegedly never happened.
The woman posted numerous messages on Facebook, claiming she was on the verge of being raped and that she was being allegedly kidnapped by would-be criminals who shoved her in the boot of her Toyota Corolla during a ’hijacking’.
Thousands shared the woman’s ordeal on social media, commenting out of concern as calls for the woman to be found reverberated into Thursday morning.
Gauteng police spokesperson Captain Mavela Masondo said the 28-year-old woman was charged with perjury, fraud and defeating the ends of justice for opening a false hijacking case at the Protea Glen Police Station in Soweto.
Simphiwe Manzini nabbed after confessing to fake Hijacking incident
She later allegedly confessed to police that she was never hijacked nor kidnapped.
“In her statement given under oath to the police, the suspect described how on Wednesday evening, 19 May 2021, her vehicle was taken by unknown men in Mohlakeng, Randfontein, who put her inside the boot and drove around with her for the better part of the evening.
“A team under the leadership of West Rand District Commissioner Major General Fred Kekana, 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,” said Masondo.
Police have since arrested the woman, confiscated her car and two cellphones, including a cellphone she claimed had been stolen by the would-be hijackers.
In one of her apparent fake posts, she posted:
“I just been hijacked. I’m in the boot of my car. They took my other phone thinking I have one. I’ll update you till I’m no more… (sic),” she posted, tagging her location as Mohlakeng, a township in Randfontein, West Rand.