Car buyer livid over bizarre arrest

Jacoline Lipharama has had a rough week. First she paid R33 000 for a second-hand car. Then she was arrested for possession of a stolen vehicle when she tried to verify its status with the police.

As if this was not enough, police refused to release the Mamelodi woman when the charges against her were withdrawn in court. They accused her of bribing court officials to have the charges dropped.

She was detained for more than 24 hours at the Mamelodi police station when she went there to check whether the used Toyota Conquest she had bought was stolen or not.

Although police opened a case of theft against the man from Ekangala who sold her the car, she is not hopeful they will pursue the case so she can recover the R33 000 she lost in the deal.

Lipharama said she got suspicious when the seller was not keen to proceed with the process of changing ownership even though she had paid for the car.

She went to the Mamelodi police station with the registration numbers of the car to verify its status with police. But to her shock and that of her family, police found the car was stolen and arrested her for possession of a stolen vehicle.

“I could not believe what was happening. Besides discovering that I had been sold a stolen car for R33 000, now I was being arrested for verifying it.

“I provided the police with the particulars of the person who sold me the car, including copies of his ID and bank statements. He is the one who was supposed to be arrested,” said Lipharama.

It appeared the police at the station were not sure how to handle the matter, as they first took her statement on Monday and told her to return the following day, she said.

When she returned she was told they were not supposed to let her go when she came to verify the car on Monday and therefore detained her until she was released on Wednesday evening.

Despite the ordeal of spending a night in the holding cells at the police station, she also had to part with R3 000 to pay the attorney who got her released. But her release only came nearly six hours after charges against her were withdrawn by the Mamelodi Magistrate’s Court.

Her lawyer was livid when she called the Pretoria News. “How can police charge someone verifying the status of a car, and refuse to release her even though charges have been withdrawn in court?” she asked.

By Thursday afternoon police still had not responded to questions about why Lipharama had been arrested when she had voluntarily gone to the station. They have also not responded to why they failed to release her immediately when charges were withdrawn in court.