South Africa- The Commercial Crimes Court in Gqeberha has finally handed down a sentence on a woman from Mthatha who practised with a fraudulent qualification.
Asisipho Mbekela (27), heard on Wednesday that she would be spending every weekend, for the next 10 months, behind bars after magistrate Lionel Lindoor imposed a sentence of 2000 hours of periodical imprisonment.
In his sentencing judgment, Lindoor said periodical imprisonment is “under-utilised” in the country.
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The young mother now has to present herself to the Department of Correctional Services in East London next Friday at 16:00, to start her sentence and she will be released on Sunday evening to resume her normal parental duties.
Mbekela was found guilty of three counts of fraud and two of forgery for lying about her qualifications and working at Livingstone Hospital in Gqeberha for six months.
Algoa FM previously reported that Mbekela said that she specialised in “Radiography Nuclear Med” which she obtained from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in 2015.
In an argument in mitigation of sentence, a probation officer from the Department of Social Development told the court that should Mbekela be incarcerated, her minor child would stay with her sister.
However, the sister told the court that this would place her under financial strain.
Defence attorney, Peter Daubermann, agreed, saying it would not be ideal for the child to be separated from its mother, and therefore asked that the sentence imposed take the child’s best interest into consideration.
State prosecutor Siebert Baartman, said Mbekela had planned her actions and was a threat to poor and vulnerable patients.
“Fraud, corruption, and white-collar crimes are a tsunami that has engulfed this country.”
In handing down the sentence, Lindoor described Mbekela as a person who was “speeding on a highway with no intention of stopping”.
He said she gave no reasons why she committed the crime nor did she take responsibility for her actions and showed no remorse.
“You are the type of person that should be removed from society, but because of the child, I have had to reconsider that when deciding on a suitable sentence,” he said.
