Bogus cardiologist Sanet Mari Brand (36), accused of contravening Section 40 of the Health Professions Act of 1974, was sentenced to two years in prison last Wednesday afternoon in the Springs Magistrate’s Court.
This marked the end of an extraordinary story that began in May last year when Brand arrived in Springs from Belville in the Western Cape and ended with her arrest on October 29.
Her arrest was the result of a joint operation between police and the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) after police received a tip-off from a patient who became suspicious after receiving a prescription from Brand for her heart condition.
At the time of her arrest, Springs police spokesperson Capt Johannes Ramphora said Brand was conducting house calls to treat patients, had a practice in Selcourt and claimed she consulted at the Far East Rand Hospital.
When Brand was arrested, she had a stethoscope, laptop, uniform, patient files and a prescription pad in her possession.
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Speaking to the Advertiser after her arrest, Ramphora said they had confirmed with the HPCSA that Brand was not licensed to practice as a doctor in South Africa.
“She was using the practice number of another cardiologist who is based in Centurion,” said Ramphora.
Brand was granted bail during her first court appearance but soon found herself behind bars after she failed to appear in court for her next court appearance, and a warrant of arrest was issued.
Accompanied by a friend, Brand handed herself in on November 5.
During her next court appearances for bail application, in which Brand announced her intention to plead not guilty to the charges against her, inconsistencies began to emerge in her story.
She claimed she had never committed a crime, but investigating officer Sgt Leah Mtsweni testified that Brand was accused of theft and fraud in 2011 and 2013 in Belville and Brackenfell respectively.
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Brand claimed she had a fixed address in Springs, but Mtsweni told the court the address Brand listed was of a couple that offered Brand shelter after she met them in the holding cells after her arrest.
Brand alleged she was not a flight risk, but her possessing a passport, having family outside of the province and country and the crime she was accused of convinced Mtsweni if she was granted bail, she would be hard to trace.
Presented with these facts, magistrate Jaco du Plessis denied Brand bail and she remained in custody at the Johannesburg Women’s Prison until last Wednesday.
On what was expected to be her last bail application last Wednesday, Brand suddenly announced her intention to plead guilty to all the charges against her.
Seeing as she plead guilty, du Plessis found Brand guilty on 10 counts of contravening Section 40 of the Health Professions Act of 1974 and one count of fraud.
In their closing arguments, prosecutor Bheki Mbatha argued Brand should be punished accordingly given she willfully and intentionally deceived patients and dispensed medication that she was not authorised to.
Additionally, Mbatha argued what Brand did was a serious offence. She put people’s lives in danger and that one of the patients she had treated had to have her leg amputated.
Countering Mbatha’s argument, Brand’s Legal Aid lawyer pleaded with the court to show mercy on Brand as she was single with no children, repeated matric, dropped out in her fifth year of studying medicine at the University of Stellenbosch, pleaded guilty, had placed the court in her confidence as she did not want to waste their time by putting them through a lengthy trial and had already spent a significant amount of time in custody.
After hearing their arguments, du Plessis wanted the court to meet the following week for sentencing but Brand pleaded with the court to sentence her immediately and requested she be transferred to Malmesbury in the Western Cape, so she could serve her sentence there.
After a short adjournment, du Plessis returned for sentencing and started by saying Brand was very lucky none of her patients had died, as she would be facing murder charges.
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In sentencing her, du Plessis said he would take into account that Brand had pleaded guilty and showed remorse for her action and that what she was accused of was not a prevalent crime in Springs.
Du Plessis said it was the first time in his courtroom he had a person accused of this crime, but that did negate the seriousness of the crime.
He also said he took into account she committed her crimes in two months instead of over a long period of time.
Brand was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for counts one to 10 of contravening Section 40 of the Health Professions Act of 1974, a further three years, suspended for five years unless she is convicted of a similar crime within that time frame.
She was also sentenced to 12 months for one count of fraud, suspended for five years, and was found unfit to possess a firearm.
Du Plessis urged Brand to use this experience as a learning curve for herself.
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