A woman who faked kidnapping and hijacking #FindSimphiweManzini due to appear in court
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Photo: Facebook
An attention seeking prank has totally gone wrong for a 28 years old woman who went on social media to lie about being kidnapped and being put in a boot of her car.
The 28 years old Simphiwe Manzini went on Facebook saying that she was forcefully put in her car boot and that her alleged kidnappers didn’t know she had a second cellphone on her and she was using it to post on social media asking for help.
Her plea caught social media attention and #FindSimphiwe went viral with people from different parts of the country joining hands in locating her whereabouts.
It was later on revealed by South African Police Service (SAPS) spokesperson Captain Mavela Masondo through a statement following a thorough investigation that the alleged kidnapping was just a hoax and Manzini was just seeking attention.
Another social media user Michael Gethe also went on Facebook to say that he was angry at the stunt that was pulled by Manzini because his friend and him used their skills and resources trying to locate the whereabouts of Manzini using tracker and her latest location and it was later on discovered that that was not true.
Captain Masondo said in a statement that Manzini had been arrested on charges of perjury, defeating the ends of justice and fraud after she reported a false hijacking and kidnapping case late Thursday afternoon at Protea Glen police station in Soweto.
“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,”
“After police from different provinces including Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the North West noted a string of social media posts about the said kidnapping and hijacking, an urgent search party was activated and maximum resources mobilised to track the vehicle and find the ‘victim’,” said Masondo.
Manzini later on confessed that it was all prank that went wrong.
She is due to appear in court later on today.
