Woman convicted for stealing nearly R300 000 from SPCA
MIDRAND - A woman accused of stealing thousands from the Midrand SPCA was convicted and found guilty of fraud at the Tembisa Regional Court on 7 November. She has since paid back the money.
Nazalie Russell was arrested on 8 November last year for fraud. She was a former bookkeeper and committee member of the Midrand SPCA. In a statement, the National Council of SPCA said Russell, who was a bookkeeper at the Midrand SPCA in 2010, defrauded the SPCA of about R271 000 over 45 transactions.
Russell moved the money from the Midrand SPCA bank account into her personal account.
Russell was sentenced to five years imprisonment, wholly suspended for 5 years on the condition that the full amount she stole was paid directly back into the Midrand SPCA bank account within 30 days.
She paid back the money on 7 November.
The National Council of SPCAs commended the “…decisive action and the steadfast manner the Midrand SPCA pursued the issue… Twice, Russell’s lawyers offered to settle the matter out of court but the council rejected the request…”
Midrand SPCA manager Brenda Lucas said the conviction is sufficient, the SPCA was happy with the outcome. “This sets a precedence that people can not defraud organisations and get away with it.”
Lucas said supporters and sponsors of the Midrand SPCA can rest assured that money and goods donated will be put to good use. “We are now using a banking system that requires more than one authoriser and all payments are monitored. The Midrand SPCA has also engaged services of an external bookkeeper.”
Lucas added that the SPCA would like to thank the prosecutor Matthews Rampyapedi and lawyers who took on the case pro-bono, Naveen Pather and Martin Pike from Martin Pike attorneys in Midrand.
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