Aussie fakes kidnap to spend New Year’s Eve with mistress, forced to pay $14k for wasting police work

Australian police spent over 200 hours investigating a report that claimed a 35-year-old man had been kidnapped on New Year’s Eve in December 2022.

It turned out that the man, Paul Iera, an Australian, had faked his own kidnap to spend the occasion with his mistress, instead of his partner.

On Tuesday, Iera was ordered by Wollongong Local Court in New South Wales to undertake 350 hours of community service and pay A$16,218 (S$14,000) to the Australian state government.

The amount of money that Iera has to pay is for the work that the police had done for his kidnapping claims, said media reports.

Iera had been issued a three-year community correction order after pleading guilty previously to making false accusations to the police.

He was also sentenced to a concurrent 18-month community correction order for unrelated charges of possessing an unauthorised firearm and a prohibited weapon without a permit, as well as ammunition, reported news.com.au on Wednesday.

The court heard that on Dec 31, 2022, Iera told his partner that he was going to meet up with his “financial guy”, reported Australia news outlet 9News on Tuesday.

But to spend time with his mistress, he sent a text message to his partner, to make it appear like he had been kidnapped.

The message read: “Thank you for sending Paul to me, now payback is a ***** bye bye. We will keep him with us until the morning wen (sic) he gives us his bike we call it square.”

His partner, who was not named in news reports, contacted the police after receiving the text message.

Iera was found by the police around 10am on Jan 1, 2023, in a van with his mistress.

He initially claimed that he was taken by a group of unknown Middle Eastern men but was let go, reported 9News.

Iera was later arrested in January and charged for making a false accusation with the intent to subject another person to investigation. The offence carries a seven-year prison sentence.

Magistrate Michael Ong described Iera’s actions as “abhorrent” and said that they were “motivated by the least compelling reason he has ever come across”, reported 9News.

Iera’s lawyer, Mr Abbas Soukie, said his client was “pleased” to have avoided the jail sentence.

“Since the commission of the offence, Mr Iera has made tremendous rehabilitative progress, and today’s outcome is reflective of (the) court’s attempt to promote that ongoing rehabilitation,” he said.

“Mr Iera continues to enjoy the support of his family and partner, and wishes to move forward with his life as a productive member of the community.”