KZN fraudsters get suspended sentences

Pietermaritzburg - Two women who admitted to committing insurance fraud were given suspended jail sentences by the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday.

Hlengiwe Nkosi, 50, a mother of three who earned R3 000 a month as a security guard, was given an eight-year suspended sentence.

She confessed to taking part in three incidents of fraud.

Her co-accused, Thembeni Nsele, 41, mother of four who earned R4 000 a month, was sentenced to four years suspended on one fraud charge.

The two are sole supporters of their families.

Acting Judge Sibusiso Mngomezulu said they were first offenders, their guilty pleas indicated remorse and a willingness to accept responsibility for their crimes, and they did not waste the court's time.

The women admitted that from 2010 to 2012 they wrongly used identity documents of living people or of people whose deaths were not reported to the home affairs department, to claim insurance money.