PASTOR GETS FIVE YEARS
A LOCAL pastor, who entered into an agreement with the state to cooperate in the investigation against an alleged criminal syndicate operating in the Northern Cape, will spend the next five years behind bars.
Jonas Riet admitted to being involved in defrauding two victims and was yesterday sentenced to eight years, three of which have been suspended for five years.
This comes after Magistrate Danie Schreuder accepted Jonas’ plea agreement.
The 50-year-old preacher from Ritchie’s Maranatha Pentecostal Church, along with nine others, were arrested last year, having been implicated in extorting payment from victims by posing as law enforcement officials.
Eight other alleged syndicate members – Trevor Mohapi, Andrew George, Isak Cupido, Wouter Viljoen, James Chimboyo, Frank Mangaliso, Andre Pillay and Jan van Wyk – remain in custody as their bail application continues while charges against another co-accused, Maria Martin, were dropped late last year.
Regarding the first count against him, Riet admitted to impersonating a Transnet official in order to dupe the complainant out of nearly R200 000 by guaranteeing her tenders in exchange for irregular payments.
The other saw him portray himself as a traffic official in order to extort R10 000 from another victim with promises to assist with licensing and vehicle registration.
Before accepting the plea and sentencing agreement yesterday, Magistrate Schreuder questioned the accused’s level of education, work experience and family dynamics.
The court heard how Riet, a married father of two, with two previous convictions, served as a preacher who was dependent on tithes from the congregation, along with his wife’s income, in order to support himself as he didn’t draw a fixed salary from the church.
In the process of committing the offences, the accused pocketed an estimated R23 000 from the two complainants, none of which has been returned to date.
Among the factors that counted in his favour, when being sentenced, included that he had shown remorse and had cooperated with the investigation, despite concerns for his personal safety.
When explaining why the state had decided to deviate from the minimum sentences act, prosecutor, Advocate Cornelia Deetlefs, said that this decision had been taken after a great deal of consideration and contemplation.
“This wasn’t an overnight decision but a strategic one because there was more than one incident over a period of time,” Deetlefs said. “However, none of the individual incidents involved an amount in excess of R100 000 which is why we didn’t charge in terms of the minimum sentences act.
“This accused would also be putting himself in danger by testifying against the suspects in the other matter.”
Before handing down the ruling, Magistrate Schreuder said that he was satisfied that the sentence was befitting, considering that the accused had cooperated with the investigation and had already spent five months in custody.
However, he pointed that while Riet appeared remorseful, his victims were yet to be compensated for their financial losses, adding that, as a pastor, he would have been expected to have the integrity not to commit fraud.
With Riet expected to testify against the suspected syndicate members, Schreuder further ruled that the 50-year-old be kept in custody in Barkly West, in the interim, SENTENCED: Jonas Riet, who was sentenced yesterday, is expected to testify against eight other accused. for his personal safety and to avoid jeopardising the case.
“I’m satisfied that he is guilty as charged and that the sentence is fair under the circumstances. In terms of count one, the sentence is five years imprisonment. On the second count, the sentence is three years, suspended for five years.”
Riet was further declared unfit to possess a firearm before he was taken to Barkly West.
EDITOR’S NOTE
In yesterday’s edition of the DFA, we referred to Deetlefs as the “legal representative” of
Riet and his co-accused. She is, in fact, the prosecutor in both cases. It was also pointed out that the case against the other accused was postponed on Friday due to court proceedings ending early for the day and not because Deetlefs was involved in both trials. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.