HONEY, YOU WON’T BELIEVE IT

Ponder this.  How do you explain to your wife a $16,000 charge for jewellery on your Diners Club card after a business trip to Kuala Lumpur when she didn’t get the jewellery? Not easy. Also a bit hard to explain to your boss too when the hot item appears on your Diners Club statement. But 35-year-old  IT consultant  Richard James Stocks from Mount Waverly had it covered. He was the victim of a ‘kidnapping’ in the Malaysian city last year.

There he was last February just standing on the kerb when he was abducted by a gang of four and driven around various shopping centres at knifepoint for seven hours. And, in his words, they ‘used me as a tool’ to attempt to buy nearly $40,000 worth of jewellery.

What a nightmare? Imagine trying to act cool, calm and collected, in all those expensive stores while the baddies forced you to hand over your credit card.  Several transactions were rejected by Diners until one for $16,493 finally went through.

And so the saga ended up in court yesterday after Stocks rejected liability. His lawyer, Geoff Block, told the court –with a straight face – that throughout the ordeal Mr. Stocks’ main concern was the ‘preservation of life and limb’. I guess that was his main concern too when he got home and the Diners statement arrived.

He denied in court that a woman captured on CCTV with him at the shops was a ‘female acquaintance’. He also denied that he had earlier been ‘placed in a compromising position’, blackmailed to buy the jewellery, and needed a story to tell his wife if she found out.

He disagreed with Diners Club lawyer, Mark Purvis, that he had been a ‘willing participant’ and needed an explanation for his family, friends and employer why the items appeared on his statement.

Stocks said he was also robbed of his camera and accessories, an electronic game and a mobile phone. And they forced him to withdraw $700 from an ATM. It was a busy day. Strangely, they didn’t take a second phone or his wallet.

And to add a twist Mr. Stocks said he had no recollection of buying or signing for the jewellery until told by Diners Club.

Do you believe that? The magistrate didn’t. Peter Lauritsen said Stock’s report to police was ‘pathetic’ and his behaviour ‘so bizarre’ that ‘I cannot accept that it is truthful’.

He was ordered to pay Diners the 16 grand for the jewellery plus interest and costs of nearly $10,000.

That’s one helluva expensive trip to KL. Probably in more ways than one.

Friday, March 20, 2009

© Copyright Derryn Hinch 2009