Fraudsters swindle ‘kind-hearted woman’ of P82,000 for medication

A woman who allegedly claimed she was critically ill and in urgent need of cash for medication in South Africa appeared in court on Friday to face one count of ‘obtaining by false pretence’.

According to the charge sheet, the unemployed woman, Mmapula Sedimo, 44, also known as Mma Queen and her unemployed accomplices, Mareledi Segojane, 45, also known as Nono, and Godirwang Tshutedi, 48, and another person not before court, in June 2023, exact date unknown to the prosecution in Francistown, acting jointly and together and with an intent to defraud, allegedly obtained P81,750 from Sisonke Kulibu by falsely representing that she (Sedimo) was critically ill and was to undergo surgery in South Africa.

She added that the money was to be used to cover for her medical expenses when in actual fact they knew that such representation was false.

When giving reasons why bail should be considered or not for the accused, the Investigating Officer (IO), Detective Sergeant Batisani Soba said Segojane and Tshutedi were merely used as conduits to get money from Kulibu, a spaza shop owner.

“We arrested the accused on November 12. During my investigations, Sedimo told me about one person who was not before the court but was also involved in the commission of the crime. Segojane and Tshutedi told me that they were used by Sedimo to go and collect money from Kulibu and from there they would hand over the money to Sedimo who would then hand over the money to the other person who is not before the court. At this stage, we have not recovered any money that was falsely taken from Kulibu,” said Soba.

“I am not opposed to Segojane and Tshutedi being granted conditional bail. I am, however, opposed to Sedimo being granted bail because she may interfere with our investigations and may also possibly meet with the fourth accused person who is not before the court and then destroy evidence. We are saying so because Sedimo is privy to how we interviewed her and she may pass that information to the fourth accused person, which will jeopardise our investigations.”

Soba added: “From our investigations, we have discovered that Segojane and Tshutedi don’t know the fourth accused person. Only Sedimo knows the fourth accused person. We don’t anticipate that Segojane and Tshutedi will tamper with our investigations in any way if they are granted bail. We pray that the court give us 14 days to arrest the fourth accused person. We are hopeful of arresting him within that period because his wife is helping us.”

During cross-examination, Sedimo asked Soba why the prosecution was refusing her to be granted bail because she was cooperating with the police in their efforts to arrest the fourth accused person.

“At this stage, I am of the fear that if you are granted bail, there is a possibility that you will meet with the fourth accused person and then destroy evidence,” Soba replied. Segojane and Tshutedi said that they had nothing to ask Soba.

Chief Magistrate Game Mooketsi then asked Soba where the fourth accused person was, to which Soba said, according to their investigations so far, he (the fourth accused) was said to be residing somewhere in the Blocks in Francistown.

Mooketsi granted Segojane and Tshutedi bail on condition that they each pay P2,000, they should each bring one citizen surety who shall bind themselves with P2,000, not interfere with witnesses and/ or tamper with investigations and report to Francistown Police Station once every month.

Moatlhodi Macheng from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) prosecuted.

The accused will appear in court on November 30.