Insurance scam killers sentenced

　

Three people who ran what they thought was a foolproof scam using dead bodies to get insurance payouts in KwaZulu-Natal have each been sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and collectively to more than 100 years for fraud and other crimes.

Maryanne Dimba, Linda Mdluli and Sibusiso Buthelezi, who were convicted by Pietermaritzburg High Court Judge Fikile Mokgohloa in February on multiple counts of racketeering, fraud, conspiracy to commit murder and one count of murder, were sentenced on Wednesday.

Their sentences will run concurrently.

The trio had killed people, stolen identity documents and planted information on the corpses before claiming from various life insurance companies.

Mokgohloa said on Wednesday it was clear they had no respect for human life, especially when considering the manner in which the victims had been killed.

Most were stabbed more than 20 times – one victim suffered 43 open wounds while another was stabbed 62 times.

The judge said murder and fraud impacted heavily on society and the killers’ behaviour could not be tolerated.

Referring to the fraud offences, Mokgohloa said the insurance industry had lost billions of rand because of false claims. This caused a ripple effect, which resulted in the consumer absorbing the loss suffered. In this case, the court heard that insurance companies Assupol Life had lost R36 000, Old Mutual R180 000, FNB R120 000 and Regent Life R220 000.

"This is a highly prevalent offence and the punishment for these crimes must reflect the shock and indignation of society," the judge said.

In 2009, police linked the trio to eight people who had been murdered or had died in car accidents. Notes were found on the bodies that led police to the trio, who had claimed they were relatives so they could claim life insurance and funeral benefits.

Dimba, who had been fingered as the "CEO" of the group, had collected more than R850 000 in fraudulent insurance claims between November 2005 and March 2008, two thirds of the entire amount the trio had fraudulently claimed.

The accused had denied their involvement in the complex, two-year scam in which they used lost or stolen IDs to claim insurance policies. Most of the policyholders were found murdered – in a similar fashion – and others were victims of car accidents whose bodies were awaiting identification at mortuaries.

The deceased had funeral cover or life insurance, and once the body was falsely identified – in most cases by one of the accused using stolen IDs – a claim was submitted to the insurance company. In all cases, the policies had been opened about three months before the insured died. To date, none of the victims have been validly identified.


Source: Daily News