Lynn Williams (Algoa FM News)
The Gqeberha accountant who stole more than R50 million from two Spar franchises pleaded guilty to the offences in the Commercial Crimes Court on Wednesday.
Jonathan Blow, 52, was found guilty of two counts of theft, immediately after his plea was read into the court record and will be sentenced in the coming months.
He stole more than R52 million from Sundridge Spar and the Despatch Superspar between September 2020 and March last year.
In his plea that was read into the court record by his attorney, Anlen Jarmen, Blow said he currently resides at the St. Albans Correctional Centre.
According to Blow, he started stealing the monies from the two franchises after he was hired to do their accounting services, through his business, PE Accounting Solutions.
As part of his mandate, Blow was given full access and administrative rights to their trading bank accounts.
Between September 2020 and March last year, Blow transferred more than R11 million from the Despatch Superspar into his business bank account.
In his plea, he says he made 24 repayments, to the tune of more than R4 million, which means the actual loss suffered was over R6 million.
Blow similarly stole and returned some of the money to the Sunridge Spar.
He says he paid back R16 million of the R40 million he stole and added that he knew what he did was wrong and unlawful.
State advocate Lise Keech accepted Blow's plea.
Jarmen asked that a pre-sentence report and a psychologist's report be drafted and presented to the court before sentencing.
In April, the court heard that Blow was seeing a psychologist, who was treating him for an online gambling addiction.
The case was postponed to 23 November for sentencing.
Blow, who has no previous convictions, faces a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison.
