A costly lie. An Australian has just been sentenced by the courts to repay 16,218.11 Australian dollars (about 9,800 euros) to the government of the state of New South Wales after reporting his fake kidnapping on December 31, reports the Australian media 9 News.
Paul Iera, from Dapto 100km south of Sydney, admitted to having made a plan to spend New Year's Eve with his mistress instead of his girlfriend. He told her that he needed to meet with her "financial expert". In order to free up time together, the 35-year-old man and his lover had then sent a ransom demand by SMS to his girlfriend.
The man found on the morning of January 1
Paul Ira's girlfriend had quickly panicked when she read the message and notified the police a few minutes before the stroke of midnight. The police mobilized in numbers, hiring several men for the equivalent of 200 hours of work, representing a cost of 25,000 Australian dollars (about 15,000 euros) for the taxpayer.
Paul Ia and his mistress were found safe and sound around 10 a.m. on the morning of January 1, after the man's vehicle, wanted, was intercepted by police. The man had initially claimed to have been abducted by a "group of unknown people from the Middle East", who had released him, before being arrested twelve days later. He was then prosecuted for "false accusation with the intention of submitting another person to investigation".
Thus, an Australian court has just sentenced him to reimburse part of the costs incurred by the local police up to $ 16,000, a sentence accompanied by community service that the thirty-year-old can be forced to perform over a period of three, the maximum sentence. He faced up to seven years in prison for an act that magistrate Michael ONG described as "heinous", according to 9 News.
