The story of supposed Capetonian hero Darryn August may not be what it seems.
In April 2016, August was left paralysed after he was apparently stabbed and flung from a moving train in a bid to protect a pregnant woman from robbers.
August was left wheelchair-bound and had his sights set on training for the Paralympic Games.
Read: A man who was thrown out of a moving train is recovering in hospital
However, on Sunday, Carte Blanche ran a segment exposing the inconsistencies in August's version of events.
Hailed a hero for being thrown off a moving train while trying to protect a pregnant woman from gangsters. But is there more to Darryn August’s story? @DerekWatts & @journojohn report after the break on #CarteBlanche pic.twitter.com/xDBGXqgVyi
— Carte Blanche (@carteblanchetv) February 11, 2018
Several attempts to meet or confirm the identity of the woman from the incident have been fruitless.
There is also no criminal record of the incident. Carte Blanche has raised questions about the investigation and alleged robbers in the case.
Carte Blanche anchor Derek Watts says that the team did not become suspicious until they began to interrogate some of the details from August's TV interview.
Also read: Fundraising initiative for Darryn August raises over R400 000
John Webb and our Cape Town producer Liz Fish started following up on what they were told and that's when things didn't match up.
— Derek Watts, Carte Blanche anchor
There were many parts to the story that didn't match up.
— Derek Watts, Carte Blanche anchor
Even with the accident; he said he was stabbed, but the medical records show no evidence of that.
— Derek Watts, Carte Blanche anchor
It's not a story I enjoyed doing, I can tell you that.
— Derek Watts, Carte Blanche anchor
It's not conclusive until Darryn gets in touch and decides to tell his story.
— Derek Watts, Carte Blanche anchor
It does seem that he embellished the story to gain more credibility and public sympathy.
— Derek Watts, Carte Blanche anchor
According to Watts, August's medical records show no indication of stab wounds.
August has also failed to honour plans to follow up with an off-camera interview with the Carte Blanche team.
Watts explains that Carte Blanche decided to air the segment because of all the money that was raised to fund August's medical bills.
Money which may have been raised through lies and deception.
It's believed more than R500 000 was raised for August through through public funding and crowd-sourcing efforts.
Also read: Cape train hero Darryn August given free bus transport for mother's funeral
There are suspicions that August may have jumped off the train voluntarily, in a bid to evade paying for ticket fare.
All attempts to reach August for comment have been unsuccessful. CapeTalk will continue to try contact him.
Click here to watch the full video of the Carte Blanche segment.
Take a listen to the developments in this shocking local story:
Meanwhile, crowd-sourcing platform BackaBuddy has also responded to the allegations of deceit.
BackaBuddy CEO Patrick Schofield says he is willing to facilitate refunds for donors left aggrieved by the "embellished" story.
Take a listen to BackaBuddy's reaction to the Carte Blanche expose:
