An Australian faked his own kidnapping and almost landed in jail (6 photos)

Paul Iera, 36, from Wollongong, NSW, faked his own kidnapping so he could spend New Year's Eve with his lover rather than his girlfriend. For organizing the hoax, which resulted in police spending about 200 hours and taxpayers paying more than AUD 25,000, the court ordered the man 350 hours of community service.





On December 31, 2022, Iera left the house just before midnight, telling his wife that he needed to meet with a financial advisor. A few hours later, the girl received a message about the kidnapping.

The man's mistress wrote: "Thank you for sending Paul to me. Now prepare the ransom. Bye-bye."

After some time, the following message came: “Okay, we will leave him with us until the morning. He will give us his motorcycle, and we will let him go.”



Fearing for Iera’s life, the girl contacted the local police, who began checking surveillance camera footage and interviewing witnesses.



The next day, Paul called his father to say he had been kidnapped the night before but had already returned to Wollongong. And he told the police that he was being held by “unknown men from the Middle East” who were hired by his mistress to get the motorcycle.



Less than two weeks later, police discovered CCTV footage of the kidnapped man with a sex worker that evening. In other footage, Iera and his lover get into a car just minutes after calling his father.



At the end of September, the trial in Iera's case took place. The magistrate called the defendant's behavior disgusting and said: "You decided to send disturbing, intimidating messages to your girlfriend in order to get more time with another flame. Any reasonable person in such a situation would contact the police, which is what she did. You are at the point where "You have to make a choice. Either you take a step back, look at yourself and start working on yourself, or you end up in a situation that ends in prison."

In addition to 350 hours of community service, the hero-lover must pay New South Wales police A$16,000.



Iera's lawyer admitted that his client has taken the path of reform and wants to be useful to society, and his family and lover provide him with support.