CT mom in deposit scam

2008-07-04 18:43

Cape Town - A Cape Town supermarket cashier who netted R10 000 in a countrywide deposit scam has to repay her ill-gotten gains or face three years in jail.

Babalwa Tsitsa, a 30-year-old mother of two, on Friday appeared in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court before Magistrate Amrith Chabilall.

He sentenced her to three years jail, suspended on condition that she repay the R10 000 she gained, in monthly instalments of R200.

She was part of a syndicate which duped a Vanderbijlpark Sasol garage out of R95 780 with a bogus bulk order for diesel.

Chabilall warned Tsitsa she would go to jail if she failed to make any payment, or even if she were only one day late with any particular payment.

With her in the dock was previously convicted fraudster Patrick Sisulu, 33, the father of her children, who was jailed for five years.

In a plea-bargain Sisulu pleaded guilty to five counts, that included the theft of ID documents, the use of forged ID documents to open bank accounts and violations of the Identification Act.

Under the plea agreement, Tsitsa pleaded guilty to three charges - the theft of an ID document, a violation of the Identification Act, and the use of a forged ID document to open bank accounts.

State advocate Diniso Ketani told the court the couple were part of the syndicate. He said the garage proprietor, Frokina Boucher, was falsely informed that a sum of R98 460 had mistakenly been deposited into her bank account, for a R2 680 diesel order.

Boucher was requested to refund the R95 780 "overpayment" - which she did.

Ketani told the court that Tsitsa was to testify against the other members of the syndicate as part of her plea-bargain.

- SAPA