Three traditional healers from Uganda who convinced a teacher from Lusikisiki to resign from her post and give them her pension money have been sentenced.
The 27-year-old Jimmy Peter Sellwuju, 32-year-old Brian Kibirigue and the 57-year-old Mohamed Wamubirigue were sentenced in the East London Magistrate's Court on Monday.
The three convinced the 63-year-old teacher to part with her pension for them to do a spiritual cleansing.
The men promised her that the ancestors will multiply her money.
A spokesperson for the Hawks Captain Anelisa Ngcakani says with the guidance of Wamubirigue, the teacher participated in a series of rituals and over 9 months systematically handed over R1.6 million of her pension money.
She says two of the men fled to Port Elizabeth but knew there was still R90 000 in the victim's account.
They then instructed her to hand over the remaining money, but by then the Hawks were already alerted by an informer, which led to a sting operation outside the bank.
Police recovered all the stolen money.
Sellwuju and Wamubirigue were each sentenced to six years in prison while Kibirigue was sentenced to a year in prison for fraud and theft.
Several teachers from the Eastern Cape were also conned with a similar modus operandi since 2016.
