The courts have handed a man who masqueraded as a fake lawyer and swindled innocent people out of over R1 million a 20-year prison sentence.
A North West man has been handed a devastating twenty-year prison term for orchestrating a sophisticated fraud that saw him masquerade as a qualified legal representative and swindle clients out of a fortune exceeding R1 million.
Kagiso Josias Selomane, a 45-year-old from Rustenburg, was convicted on nine separate counts of fraud this week after a protracted legal process. His deceptive spree, which ran from 2011 to 2015, targeted vulnerable individuals seeking legal counsel in Rustenburg, other parts of the North West, and Johannesburg.
Details Of The Criminal Spree Exposed In Court
The court heard how Selomane’s scheme was brazen in its execution. He would approach potential clients, often those entangled in emotionally charged divorce or labour disputes, and offer his services as a lawyer. He demanded substantial upfront payments for legal services that he never intended to provide.
Selomane would even escort his victims to actual courthouses to perpetuate the lie. He would occupy empty courtrooms with them, fabricating entire proceedings.
He stated,
“He would sit with them in vacant courtrooms, pretending to represent them, and would later claim their case had been postponed. All of this was a complete fabrication; no such cases existed on the roll.”
Fake Lawyer Slapped With A 20-Year Prison Sentence
The intricate web of lies finally unravelled on 20 October 2015 when multiple victims, realising they had been duped, approached the authorities. During the trial, the State argued that the accused’s actions were calculated and malicious.
State Advocate Rodger Mareume was quoted in proceedings, emphasising that
“Selomane’s guilty plea was not a genuine display of remorse but a tactical move. He has not taken any steps to repay the victims he defrauded, showing a distinct lack of contrition for his actions.”
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Passing sentence, Magistrate Samuel Mabogo focused on the deliberate and sustained nature of the crimes. The court also took into account Selomane’s previous convictions for fraud, which painted a picture of a repeat offender. While receiving individual sentences for each count, they will run concurrently, resulting in an effective twenty-year prison term. Selomane was also formally declared unfit to possess a firearm.
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The post Fake Lawyer Who Swindled ‘Clients’ Out Of Over R1 Million Gets A 20-Year Prison Sentence appeared first on iHarare News.
