In dramas and movies, we might see people resisting their child being taken away by their step-parents.
The typical reaction would be to get into an argument with said step-parent, or maybe even take it to court—in short, there would be a big fuss.
Except, you’re about to review your definition of a ‘big fuss’ because one man even got the police involved by claiming that a kidnapping had taken place.
I promise you, this happened in real life.
Man Falsely Claimed That His Son Was Kidnapped by a Stranger
According to the press release by the Singapore Police Force (SPF) on Sunday (11 July), a 61-year-old man has been arrested for providing false information to a public servant. He is currently under investigation.
According to the press release, the police had received a report on 10 July around 12.40pm from the man, alerting them to an alleged kidnap case.
The man had claimed that the kidnap incident took place at Punggol, where an unidentified man had allegedly snatched his 8-year-old son away and forcibly pulled him into a car, before driving off.
‘Stranger’ was Actually Son’s Step-father
Upon receiving the alert, police officers from Ang Mo Kio Police Division arrived at the scene and begun questioning the man and witnesses. However, during their investigations, officers instead detected several inconsistencies in the man’s and the witnesses’ accounts.
According to preliminary investigations, the man’s son and the stranger that had been accused of allegedly kidnapping him were actually known to each other. It was believed that the man’s son had willingly entered the car.
Hence, the 61-year-old man was suspected of intentionally providing false information to the police in order to mislead them during investigations.
The SPF has not disclosed the relationship between the man’s son and the person who took him away in a car.
However, according to Lianhe Zaobao‘s understanding, the owner of the car is actually the 8-year-old boy’s stepfather.
For giving any information which a person knows to be false to a public servant, an offender can be sentenced to up to two years’ jail, fined, or both.
In their press release, the SPF also put out a stern warning, reminding the public that “police resources could have been put to better use in dealing with real crimes and emergencies than investigating into false reports or false information.”
“Those who lodge false police reports or provide false information will face serious consequences under the law,” the SPF concluded.
Featured Image: Saowanee K/ shutterstock.com
