John Paintsil faces trial over R3000 debt to South African girlfriend

Deputy coach of Kaizer Chiefs John Paintsil could face the law court after refusing to pay an amount of R3000 he allegedly borrowed from his South African mate Lebo August.

According to August, she and Paintsil defender were in a sexual relationship when she gave him the money as loan but the former Fulham defender has failed to settle her after their intimate relationship ended last month.

August revealed to South African newspaper Sunday World during an interview at her home that she met the former Ghana international player in July last year.

“I was stuck on the side of the highway because my car was overheating. John stopped and assisted me, that’s how we hooked up and started having sex. We are not dating, it’s just a hook up where we just have sex,” August indicated.

Paintsil, who counts West Ham United, Fulham and Leicester City as his former sides in the English Premiership before heading to South Africa to wind down his illustrious career with Santos and Maritzburg United, denied knowing August. Instead, he said the Lebo he knows was his friend and they do take pictures together but do not sleep together.

“I owe her R3000? What did I buy from her?

“I don’t have a girlfriend with that name,” he said.

He said the person who is accusing him of owing her money was out to destroy him.

Moments after the telephonic interview with Paintsil by Sunday World, August contacted the reporters of the paper and said Paintsil called and begged her to deny knowing him or having had sex with her.

“He wanted us to chat through SMSes so that he can use it as proof when he opens a case against Sunday World,” she said.

“He told me that if the story was published, his reputation and job will be on the line.

“What angers me is that in all these conversations he says nothing about paying back my money,” she said.

According to August, Paintsil was a “good guy since we hooked up” but started misbehaving as months went by.

“We sometimes slept at my place or at his place in the south [of Joburg], next to The Glen shopping mall. We also slept at a hotel once because there was no electricity at his townhouse.

“What pissed me off is that he borrowed money from me claiming that his bank card was swallowed by an ATM and he never paid me back. He promised to pay me back the following day but he has been giving me a run-around ever since,” she said.

“He is basically refusing to pay me back and I had saved that money for my younger brother’s school transport.”

August, 24, said as a result, her little brother did not go to school for a week.

Last month Painstil put blocks in front of his house to prevent cars from passing after his electricity supply was cut because of non payment.