SYDNEY: An Australian national has been ordered to pay compensation to the police after he faked his own kidnapping. Paul Iera, from Wollongong in New South Wales, came up with the plot in order to spend New Year’s Eve with another woman instead of his partner.
A court ordered the 35-year-old to pay 16,218 Australian dollars ($10,334) to NSW police for their probe work, BBC reported.
The Wollongong magistrate said Iera was motivated by the least compelling cause he had ever come across. On December 31, 2022, Iera sent a text message to his partner claiming to be from his abductors. The message said the imagined kidnappers would keep him until the morning.
His partner then contacted police in the district of Lake Illawarra, who found Iera in his van in his hometown of Dapto the next morning. Officers put in more than 200 hours of police work probing Iera’s claim of abduction, with 16,218 dollars spent on wages and obtaining phone records, according to local media.
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A local newspaper said Iera had initially claimed he was abducted by a group of unknown Middle Eastern men and later let go.
Australian Arrested in January
He was subsequently apprehended in January and charged with making a false accusation with the intent to subject another person to probe, which carries a 7-year prison sentence. Iera avoided jail time but was issued a 3-year community correction order and told to do 350 hours of community service, as well as compensation to the police.
Australian man who faked own kidnapping ordered to compensate police https://t.co/FWTD1NXlvi
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) September 27, 2023
He also pleaded guilty to 3 unrelated charges of possessing a prohibited weapon without a permit, an unauthorized firearm, and ammunition without a license. Magistrate Michael Ong described Iera’s actions as abhorrent.
