Mother of four jailed over cheque fraud

A THIRD conviction for a crime of dishonesty landed a Windhoek mother of four children with a prison term of up to four years when she was sentenced in the Windhoek Regional Court last week.

The 40-year-old Mylene Swanepoel was sentenced by Magistrate Dinnah Usiku on Thursday, after Swanepoel had pleaded guilty to four charges of fraud. Swanepoel also has two previous convictions for crimes of dishonesty on her record, the Magistrate was informed after she had pleaded guilty.With both those previous convictions she evaded direct terms of imprisonment.She was not so lucky with her latest conviction, though.In 1996, Swanepoel was sentenced to a wholly suspended prison term of 12 months after she had been found guilty of theft of money, theft of a cheque and theft by false pretences.The period of the suspension of that jail term had just passed in 1999 when Swanepoel was convicted for a second time, this time of fraud that again involved cheques, for which she was sentenced to a fine of N$1 200 and a suspended 18-month jail term.In her latest clash with the law, Swanepoel admitted that on March 19, April 2, April 4 and April 11 she presented supposed salary cheques to Bank Windhoek to be deposited into her bank account.The cheques were to be drawn on an account of Sao Tome Enterprises – a business of which Swanepoel is the owner, and which she knew was no longer operating.Swanepoel admitted that when she deposited the cheques, totalling N$81 710,36, and proceeded to withdraw N$43 000 from her account, she knew that the cheques she had deposited were not valid.She knew she was committing fraud and that if she got caught she could be arrested, charged, convicted and sentenced, Swanepoel also admitted.”I have the utmost of remorse for what I have done,” she declared in a written statement in which she admitted guilt.Swanepoel told the Magistrate that Sao Tome Enterprises was closed down in December last year because of financial difficulties.She said she and her husband, with whom she has a daughter who is turning three in September, were in dire financial straits, with her husband ill with heart problems which, according to her, necessitates a heart transplant.With medical costs amounting to N$120 000 a year, her family had to receive help from relatives and from a church to keep their heads above water, she testified.She said she used the money that she fraudulently withdrew from her bank account to pay doctors’ bills, the rent for the house she and her husband lived in, and other accounts.Magistrate Usiku sentenced Swanepoel to pay a fine of N$10 000 or serve a two-year prison sentence.In addition, she sentenced her to five years’ imprisonment, of which three years were suspended for a period of five years on condition that Swanepoel pays back N$43 000 to Bank Windhoek and that she is not again convicted of fraud committed during the period of suspension.Swanepoel has been in custody since May 2, her lawyer, Jan Wessels, told the Magistrate.Swanepoel was free on bail on another cheque-fraud charge dating from 2004 when she committed this fraud.Public Prosecutor Karin Esterhuizen conducted the prosecution.Swanepoel also has two previous convictions for crimes of dishonesty on her record, the Magistrate was informed after she had pleaded guilty.With both those previous convictions she evaded direct terms of imprisonment.She was not so lucky with her latest conviction, though.In 1996, Swanepoel was sentenced to a wholly suspended prison term of 12 months after she had been found guilty of theft of money, theft of a cheque and theft by false pretences.The period of the suspension of that jail term had just passed in 1999 when Swanepoel was convicted for a second time, this time of fraud that again involved cheques, for which she was sentenced to a fine of N$1 200 and a suspended 18-month jail term.In her latest clash with the law, Swanepoel admitted that on March 19, April 2, April 4 and April 11 she presented supposed salary cheques to Bank Windhoek to be deposited into her bank account.The cheques were to be drawn on an account of Sao Tome Enterprises – a business of which Swanepoel is the owner, and which she knew was no longer operating.Swanepoel admitted that when she deposited the cheques, totalling N$81 710,36, and proceeded to withdraw N$43 000 from her account, she knew that the cheques she had deposited were not valid.She knew she was committing fraud and that if she got caught she could be arrested, charged, convicted and sentenced, Swanepoel also admitted.”I have the utmost of remorse for what I have done,” she declared in a written statement in which she admitted guilt.Swanepoel told the Magistrate that Sao Tome Enterprises was closed down in December last year because of financial difficulties.She said she and her husband, with whom she has a daughter who is turning three in September, were in dire financial straits, with her husband ill with heart problems which, according to her, necessitates a heart transplant.With medical costs amounting to N$120 000 a year, her family had to receive help from relatives and from a church to keep their heads above water, she testified.She said she used the money that she fraudulently withdrew from her bank account to pay doctors’ bills, the rent for the house she and her husband lived in, and other accounts.Magistrate Usiku sentenced Swanepoel to pay a fine of N$10 000 or serve a two-year prison sentence.In addition, she sentenced her to five years’ imprisonment, of which three years were suspended for a period of five years on condition that Swanepoel pays back N$43 000 to Bank Windhoek and that she is not again convicted of fraud committed during the period of suspension.Swanepoel has been in custody since May 2, her lawyer, Jan Wessels, told the Magistrate.Swanepoel was free on bail on another cheque-fraud charge dating from 2004 when she committed this fraud.Public Prosecutor Karin Esterhuizen conducted the prosecution.