An unemployed man’s misfortunes ended on Monday when he got a 10-year suspended prison sentence instead of the prescribed minimum of 15 years, for fraud involving more than half a million rand.
Ederies Mokadam, 32, appeared in the Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Bellville, before magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg.
His case took the form of a plea bargain, negotiated by legal aid lawyer Harley Cloete, with State advocate Denzyl Combrink.
Court papers told his hard luck story – a stranger known only as “Mo” promised him work if Mokadam obtained finance fraudulently, in Mokadam’s name, for a 2008 model BMW M3 coupe costing R638 953, which Mo wanted.
The transaction was approved – but on the basis of Mokadam’s false bank statements indicating that he earned a monthly salary of R42 710, and a fake salary slip.
The false bank statements and salary slips were given him by Mo, according to the court papers.
The magistrate said the fact that the State and defence accepted his hard luck story as the truth, did not necessarily mean that the court did as well.
She said Mokadam was sentenced as a first-time offender, but that as from Monday he was no longer a first-time offender.
If found guilty again of fraud, or any other offence involving dishonesty, committed within the five-year period of suspension, he would be treated as a repeat offender, and the suspended jail sentence would likely be put into operation, in addition to the fresh sentence, she warned.
The court did also not necessarily accept that Mo had “used or abused” him, or that Mo was the cause of his misfortunes, because had Mokadam not had criminal inclinations himself, he would not have got involved with Mo, she said.
She added: “Your parents must surely be praying for you at this very moment, and they must be a bundle of nerves.
“It is difficult enough for your parents to care for an unemployed son, but it is going to be even more difficult for them to deal with an unemployed criminal son,” she said.
The magistrate urged Mokadam to make good use of the chance that the suspended sentence gave him to mend his ways, and to prove himself to the community.
She told him: “There is still hope for you, and plenty that you can do to prove yourself, such as helping the elderly as a voluntary community service.”
The court accepted that, among the substantial and compelling reasons for a suspended prison sentence, instead of the prescribed 15 years, was the fact that Mokadam was “thoroughly ashamed of himself, and the disgrace that he had brought on his parents”.
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