Frequent outbursts liven fraud trial

Proceedings in the Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Bellville were livened up by the frequent outbursts of a witness.

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Cape Town - The proceedings in the Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Bellville were livened up on Wednesday by the frequent outbursts of a prosecution witness in a case involving a couple facing multiple charges, including fraud.

Early in the proceedings, magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg urged businessman Zehoor Khan to “calm down” and assured him that she would ensure that he was not asked unnecessary and irrelevant questions during his testimony.

She also assured him that he could regard prosecutor Jacques Smith as his personal lawyer during the proceedings, and that part of the prosecutor’s function was to protect him from any unfair treatment during cross-examination by the defence team, advocate Grant Smith and attorney Aadil Kirsten.

In the dock were jeweller, Ferial Baboet, and her husband, Denish Nathoo, owners of the jewellery store Damjee Bros.

They have pleaded not guilty to 170 counts, including fraud, in which they are alleged to have lodged a false insurance claim involving a faked robbery.

Asked what he did for a living, Khan said: “I am a businessman.”

He said he at one stage owned a Cash-and-Carry outlet, and at the time shared premises at Rylands with Damjee Bros.

Currently, he ran an import and export business from home, he said.

In 2010 he had bought jewellery for his wife at Damjee Bros, and around this time Baboet had promised him profits if he invested in her business, he said.

He told the court: “I said I would think about it, and the next year she called to ask me to come to her shop as she had been robbed.

She said she was getting money from her insurance to replace the stolen jewellery and that the insurance payout would take two to three weeks.

“I then invested R2 million in her business,” he said.

Seemingly emotional about this, he blurted out in an agitated manner: “She destroyed my life …”

After a while, Baboet said her insurance claim had gone to Europe, but that she would still pay him.

In due course, Baboet gave him R60,000 as part repayment of his investment, and later a cheque for R619,000, which “bounced”, he said.

He said Baboet had “too many ups and downs” – her husband had been stabbed in the robbery, and at one stage he heard that she and her husband were moving to Durban.

He recalled telephoning Baboet in September, 2011, when the police told him to stop calling her.

He also recalled Baboet closing the Rylands branch of her shop, and added: “I went looking for her, but never got hold of her.”

Asked how he experienced Baboet prior to his R2 million investment, he said: “I didn’t know much about her, but I was like a brother to her.”

When the defence started their cross-examination, Khan’s answers gave the impression that he had language difficulties, and the defence suggested the use of an interpreter.

To which Khan he said: “I am so upset …”

The magistrate said Khan did not have a language problem, “he just wants to get it all over and done with.”

The witness added: “I don’t want someone (the defence) to ask me the same question a second time.”

The defence said Baboet denied telling Khan that that she was getting insurance money.

He replied: “I am standing here in a court – whatever I say is one hundred percent correct.

“I won’t tell lies, because I cannot live with that.”

The case continues on Thursday.

ANA