Paul Iera, 35, was ordered to pay $16k to the NSW government as compensation for the police time and resources spent searching for him. Image: Highway Patrol Images, via Wikimedia Commons
Paul Iera, 35, has been ordered to pay $16,218.11 to the NSW government as compensation for the police time and resources spent searching for him.
The order comes nearly ten months after Iera hatched a plot to spend the New Year with his mistress, without arousing the suspicion of his wife.
Iera reportedly told his spouse that he was meeting his “financial guy”, then concocted the faked ransom note, which read as follows:
“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.”
Iera’s wife panicked upon receiving the note and contacted police who launched an investigation to locate the “missing” man.
Though Iera was found at 10am the next morning, he claimed that he had been taken by a group of unknown Middle Eastern men but was later released.
Twelve days later, Iera was arrested and charged with making a false accusation with the intent to subject another person to investigation.
Reportedly, his investigation wasted approximately 200 hours of police time, estimated at around a $25,000 cost to taxpayers.
Appearing in Wollongong Local Court, Iera faced a maximum sentence of seven years in prison for his misdeeds.
Magistrate Michael Ong instead handed him a three-year community correction order, along with the hefty sum he would pay in compensation to the NSW government.
The magistrate said that he did consider imprisonment, describing Iera’s actions “abhorrent” and saying they were “motivated by the least compelling reason he has ever come across.”
Iera refused to comment, but his lawyer Abbas Soukie issued a statement on his behalf.
“Mr Iera is pleased to have avoided a gaol sentence today. Since the commission of the offence, Mr Iera has made tremendous rehabilitative progress and today’s outcome is reflective of Court’s attempt to promote that ongoing rehabilitation. 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.”
