‘Cancer’ mom awaits fate in fraud case

STANDING tall with long silky black hair, her face skilfully made up and dressed in a trendy navy blue pant-suit and polka dot blouse, one would never have imagined just a few years ago that Vindra Jaickaran Moodley, pictured, had only months to live.

While her imminent death from cancer was a lie, the former IT teacher will know her fate this week when the Durban Special Commercial Crime Court is expected to hand down sentence on 73 counts of fraud and one of misrepresentation.

Moodley, 49, of Hilton near Pietermaritzburg, has pleaded guilty.

According to the State, she had defrauded her former employer, Cowan House Preparatory, of more than to R2.1 million after faking cancer and lying that she had only four months to live.

Standing in the dock on Tuesday, a remorseful looking Moodley stood weeping.

On Monday, the court heard of Moodley’s suicide attempts and hospital admissions after being diagnosed with a major depression disorder.

Specialist psychiatrist Dr Stewart Lund said he had treated Moodley between 1999 and 2003 and again from 2015.

According to Lund, their first encounter was when Moodley was admitted at St Anne’s Hospital in 1999.

“I was called to see her then. She had been severely depressed. She said she was going through a divorce and there had been an incident with her sister which put her and family under stress. She told me had it not been for her children she would have killed herself,” he said.

“I saw her again in January 2000 when she was readmitted for depression after the death of her mother three weeks prior. She was referred to a clinical psychologist as she had suffered major depression with severe grief. She was put on anti-depressants and was to receive on-going treatment,” said Lund.

Social worker Pamella Mlonzi, who had conducted the victim impact assessment report, told the court that through her interviews with parents and teachers there had been mixed reaction.