A former manager at an Engine Garage in Tsolo has been sentenced to an effective 15 years behind bars for defrauding her employer and stealing just over R774 000.
A spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in the Eastern Cape Luxolo Tyali says 30-year-old Anele Mqhathu was sentenced in the Mthatha Specialised Commercial Court on Tuesday.
He says over a period of 10 months in 2021, Mqhathu took money from the cashiers under false pretences.
Tyali says she would then give the money to her friends with instructions to deposit it into her personal bank account.
He says when her employer picked up the irregularities, he engaged with an accountant and confronted Mqhathu who then admitted to the crime on a cellphone recording.
The NPA says after her arrest, however, she changed her tune and pleaded not guilty.
Mqhathu was sentenced to 15 years for theft and another 15 years for fraud but the court ordered her sentences to run concurrently.
