Siyabonga Sesant
Heartbreaking testimony was heard in the Gqeberha Specialised Commercial Crimes court on Wednesday when another alleged victim of the Helping Hands Investment scam took the stand.
Former professional nurse 57-year-old Maria Sluiter told the court how approximately R1.3-million of her pension money was swindled by Michael Rathbone and his partner Leon Lewitton, the owners of the bogus investment company.
Sluiter said she was duped into thinking she’d be getting a return of between 15% and 45% on her investment.
Teary-eyed and emotional, she told the court she only received four payments of R15 000 from Helping Hands Investments.
She also recalled how on many occasions her family had to go without food and how “every month I had to enquire when I’m getting my money”.
After she testified, Sluiter was approached by Lewitten who told her while he could not talk about the case, that “everything will be okay”.
He did not elaborate on what he meant by those words.
On Wednesday, both he and Rathbone appeared slightly less confident than they did the previous when they were swagged out in matching suits and different shades of blue shirts and ties.
They face at least 163 charges, including fraud and theft.
The pair were arrested by the Hawks in November 2019 and are out on bail of R50 000 each.
On Tuesday another state witness, Heidenrich van Mollendorff, testified how – when he was under the employ of Helping Hands Investments as an agent – he also allegedly invested R300 000 and recruited several other people, including members of his own family, to invest.
The court heard that while Helping Hands was a registered company, it was not a legal financial service provider.
