Correctional Services officer Bukiwe Mgwangqa endured a second straight day of tough cross-examination in an East London court on Thursday during sentencing proceedings of 46-year-old Retha Voogt.
The Personal Assistant was convicted in November last year of stealing more than R11 million from her employer, the Moore Stephens Auditing firm and PSG Consult in East London, over a period of time from 2013 onwards.
She told the court, however, that she’d gambled all the money away and had nothing to show for it.
The State is seeking a minimum prison sentence of 15-years for Voogt.
During Thursday's proceedings, Mgwangqa told the court that she did not believe Voogt was a suitable candidate for correctional supervision and that she must serve direct imprisonment.
Andre Schoombee for the defence, continued his argument that Mgwangqa’s Correctional Services report on Voogt was flawed, riddled with mistakes, contained blatant untruths and was not balanced.
He submitted to the court that Mgwangqa had not applied her mind to the matter and that he would argue that her report be rejected.
It also emerged during cross-examination that Mgwangqa had phoned Voogt at 06h22 on Christmas Day last year to set up a meeting.
The matter was postponed to the 4th of May when it is expected that the investigating officer will testify and the defence will then lead evidence in mitigation of sentence.
Voogt remains out on bail of R10 000.
