Former Midlands teacher jailed for fraud
A former teacher has been jailed for an effective five years for defrauding the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands preparatory school she taught at out of millions of Rands and lying about having cancer.
Vindra Jaickaran, who was an IT teacher at Cowan House, pleaded guilty to 74 counts of fraud to the value of more than R2-million in February.
Jaickaran had said she was suffering from psychological problems at the time of the offences but Magistrate Judy Naidoo did not believe her.
Naidoo said the only appropriate sentence was a custodial one and gave Jaickaran ten years in prison, half of which she suspended for five years.
The 49-year-old was also involved in procurement at the school and admitted to writing up invoices and arranging for the funds to be transferred into her own account.
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Jaickaran had said she was suffering from psychological problems at the time of the offences but Magistrate Judy Naidoo did not believe her.
In handing down sentence in Durban's Specialised Commercial Crimes Court, the magistrate said she believes Jaickaran simply hit upon a profitable scheme that she thought she could get away with.
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She said white collar crime is serious and on the rise and that the courts have to take a tough stance.Naidoo said the only appropriate sentence was a custodial one and gave Jaickaran ten years in prison, half of which she suspended for five years.
Jaickaran is expected to appeal.