Durban -
Two women and a man who ran an elaborate scheme, in which they had people killed, falsely identified their bodies and then claimed life insurance and funeral benefits, were sentenced to life imprisonment by the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Wednesday.
Maryanne Dimba, 44, Linda Mdluli, 47, and Sibusiso Buthelezi, 29, were sentenced on multiple counts, including premeditated murder – for which life had been imposed – fraud, conspiracy to murder and racketeering. However, all the lengthy sentences are to run concurrently.
They were linked to the deaths of eight people who had been murdered or had died in car accidents between November 2005 and March 2008 – the duration of the scam.
The State could not prove they had murdered all their victims, but Dimba was convicted on seven counts of conspiracy to murder, and one of murder. Her partners were convicted of one count of conspiracy to murder and one count of murder each.
The dead were found with notes on them, with the phone numbers of one of the fraudsters. When contacted, they would identify the body as that of a family member, by using stolen or false IDs.
Claims would then be submitted to insurance companies. The policies had been opened three months before the insured died. The real identities of the bodies remained a mystery.
Judge Fikile Mokgohloa said the three had no respect for human life. Most of the dead had more than 40 wounds, including deep stab wounds.
The judge said it was a pity the families of the dead could not be found.
Fraud, she said, was serious and prevalent. It had a ripple effect and innocent people who were insured were made to suffer, which was unfair and unjust. “If they (insurance companies) lost money, we as ordinary customers have to pay for the things we don’t even have knowledge about.”
She said in this case various insurance companies were defrauded of more than R500 000, while the court had heard that fraud cost South Africa’s insurance industry R669 million arising from 5 466 cases in the past financial year alone.
Judge Mokgohloa said the evidence was that Dimba was the kingpin of the operation, which might also have involved others who were still at large.
Claims were paid into her accounts or those she controlled, and she distributed the money.
The trio’s personal circumstances had been taken into account by the judge. They were all unwell. Dimba and Buthelezi had tuberculosis and Mdluli suffered from high blood pressure. All had also been awaiting trial in jail for between five and six years and were first-time offenders. But the aggravating factors outweighed any mitigation, she said.
The Mercury