ran off with deposit - no work, no refund just excuses

on 2nd July I paid Darius R16K as a deposit on a R28K quote to build and install cupboards. Two days before he was due to start he sends a whatapp saying he has blood poisoning, diabetes and other deadly infections that required him to be rushed to hospital the day before, he claims to be hospitalised for the next three weeks. Accompanying the message is two videos of him in two different hospitals with completely different appearances (haircut, facial hair and clothing) addressing another client that he cannot meet "Siya". There is no evidence of the date the videos were taken, there is no doctors notes or admission information provided and he refused to provide any other evidence he is in hospital.

I gave him the following options:

1. Return the money back to me in full by close of business 28th July 2. ⁠Deliver all the materials you allegedly bought, with invoices and return any money remaining by close of business Monday 28th July 3. ⁠Send photos of your medical case file with dates by 12:00 today 4. ⁠continue to mess around - I’ll file a report with NBRC and the police

His response is that 1) he will sue us for defamation for publicly posting this issue on the local community Facebook group 2) we can collect the materials he allegedly bought from his office when he is out of hospital (three weeks time!)