A 48-year-old Bloemspruit man charged with perjury after reporting a false vehicle hijacking case is not off the hook, despite the case being struck from the court roll.
Const. Maselela Langa, Free State police spokesperson, confirmed that the matter had been struck from the court roll and that the suspect was subsequently released on warning.
He attributed the case being struck from the court roll and the suspect’s release to incomplete police investigations into the fabricated hijacking case.
Langa said the man had been released after appearing in the Bloemfontein Magistrates’ Court on 20 April. He said once the investigation was finalised, the case would be re-enrolled in the Bloemfontein Regional Court.
The man is charged with perjury following the discovery that he fabricated a vehicle hijacking to conceal his drunken driving incident, which reportedly occurred on the night of 11 April. He reported the case the following day.
Police arrested him on 17 April after investigations revealed no evidence supporting the hijacking case that he had reported at the Bloemspruit Police Station. In addition, he admitted to lying about the vehicle hijacking.
Police uncovered the truth after tracing the vehicle to a friend’s residence. Langa said the friend had told police the suspect had left the vehicle after being involved in an accident while under the influence of alcohol.
The man claimed otherwise when reporting the case to police. Langa said the suspect alleged that he had been struck on the head with an unknown object by an “unidentified hijacker” while opening the gate at his residence in Bloemspruit.
He told police he fell to the ground and lost consciousness, leading to the car being stolen.
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