An Eastern Cape woman who embezzled millions from the Humansdorp Veterinary Clinic was sentenced to 15 years of direct imprisonment.
Lana Nell, 46, wept when the sentence was handed down in the Gqeberha Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Friday.
She stole R4.8 m from her employer during October 2017 to February last year.
Nell was responsible for capturing payments to creditors through her employer's First National Bank online banking platform.
The court heard that the theft started as early as two months after her appointment when she started to siphon money through two of her personal bank accounts.
She first deposited R21 m of her employer's money into her Bidvest bank account.
From this account, she paid creditors an amount of R16 m and used the remainder to, among others, fund holidays to Jeffreys Bay, Knysna, Plettenberg Bay, and Gqeberha.
Magistrate Vuziwe Mnyani said it was clear that Nell stole the money to sustain her luxurious lifestyle, while the victims and their families suffered financially and psychologically.
"Crimes against employers by employees in positions of trust are grave.
"You abused your position of trust," Mnyani told the offender.
She said the fact that the crimes started two months after Nell started working was one of the aggravating factors that counted against her.
Another aggravating factor was that she destroyed all the company's financial records and never offered to pay any of the money back.
To stay afloat, the victims had to dip into overdrafts and take out second mortgages against their homes.
"This did not happen in the spur of the moment. You used creative bookkeeping measures to cover up your tracks.
"The crime was driven by greed and your enrichment," said Mnyani.
