By Jonk wa Mashamba
Editor-In-Chief
news@alexreporter.co.za
Stephanus Johannes van Eerden (62) convicted of 71 counts of theft, after pleading guilty, was sentenced to 15 years direct imprisonment by the Pretoria Specialized Commercial Crimes Court.
Van Eerden committed these offences over a period of 13 years, from 2008 to 2021, using the same method of stealing from his victims.
He ran various investment schemes and convinced people to invest there as if they were legitimate businesses.
Two of his investment schemes in which he stole more than R8 million from 36 plaintiffs was Bitcoin and Med Consult Group (MCG).
He was arrested and released on bail in October 2017 after one of the plaintiffs opened a case at the Brooklyn Police Station.
Subsequently, a number of cases were opened for the same type of offence across the country and he was apprehended again in January 2022. He has been in custody since.
Lumka Mahanjana NPA Regional Spokesperson, said in the interest of justice and for the court to get a full picture of the seriousness of the crimes committed by van Eerden, the NPA took a decision to consolidate all the dockets and centralise them in one court.
According to Mahanjana, in the testimony of one of the complainants, Van Eerden told the court that he lost all his money in the investments, such that he cannot afford to stay in his own home and has to rent it out in order to make a living.
Prosecutor Advocate Willem van Zyl argued in court that Van Eerden was a career conman and the community needed to be protected from him. The way he went about conducting his business had finally caught up with him.
Van Zyl reminded the court that in 2017, when van Eerden was applying for bail, he cited extreme health problems as a mitigating factor.
However, after being granted bail with a condition of not committing crime again, he committed the exact same crime four days later and continued until his arrest in 2022.
“Therefore, he asked the court to impose the minimum prescribed sentence of 15 years direct imprisonment.
“In delivering the sentence the magistrate said that Van Eerden’s conduct showed his lack of ability to have true remorse. He stole money because of greed, not because of dire need.
“Van Eerden asked for a lesser sentence due to ill health, but the magistrate said that ill-health cannot be used as a licence to commit crime,” said Mahanjana.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Adv. Sibongile Mzinyathi welcomed the sentence and
hoped it sent a strong message that such crimes of bogus investment schemes and other financial crimes will not be tolerated.
Mzinyathi believes that direct 15-year imprisonment will be a deterrent for those who commit similar crimes.
