A Durban woman, who pretended to be a psychic and drugged and stole from the elderly, has been jailed for 15 years.
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Durban casino con woman Nancy Shanelle Naidoo, 33, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for fraud and theft by the Durban Regional Court on Friday.
Naidoo pleaded guilty to 29 charges, which included fraud, robbery, and extortion.
Naidoo convinced her victims to part with their valuable items by promising them that she, or her alleged alter ego, “a psychic friend”, could perform rituals to bless them and give them luck, and never returned the items to their owners.
She also drugged elderly people and stole from their homes.
In a statement read by her lawyer, Hycenth Mlotshwa, Naidoo admitted to drugging elderly people and robbing them of cash and jewellery.
Naidoo began conning people in 2007 when she defrauded Dhanasagree Govender of R7 550 by claiming she was employed by the Southern Sun Elangeni hotel in Durban and was authorised to sell catering equipment that she said were “rejects”.
In another case, elderly people were drugged and threatened in order to get them to part with their jewellery and cash.
Evidence was led during the court case that in August 2008, Naidoo made off with R4 000 after promising a woman she would retrieve her mangalsutra, a sacred necklace which is a symbol of marriage in the Hindu tradition, from a pawn shop.
In September 2010, it is claimed that Inderbassie Boodhoo gave Naidoo gold bangles and earrings to be blessed, and in a separate incident Boodhoo was allegedly drugged and threatened before Naidoo took a R4 000 gold chain and R200 in cash.
During her trial Naidoo, going by the name of Veneshree, posed as a physiotherapist working at Addington Hospital and misrepresented herself to two elderly people, claiming that she was employed at the hospital and could arrange for, and dispense, medication and visit patients at their homes to do physiotherapy and massage.
When she went to their home, Naidoo gave them tablets and they fell into a deep sleep. When they woke, their home had been ransacked and jewellery valued at more than R100 000 was missing.
One of her victims, whose 21-year-old daughter had been killed in a car accident, was told by Naidoo that she had bad luck which needed to be cleansed to prevent her son and granddaughter from being killed in a similar way.
The woman handed over jewellery and cash totalling R820 000, which she never saw again.
Another alleged victim, who was promised “luck at the casino”, handed over jewellery and cash totalling R446 000.
In opposing bail, investigating officer Captain Louis Helberg said many complainants had identified Naidoo, but she had changed her appearance dramatically through make-up and jewellery on the day an identity parade was to be held.
Helberg said he had discovered that from August 2011 to November 2012 Naidoo had lost R511 000 on slot machines. He had argued that Naidoo was a risk to society because she drugged elderly people, “three of whom have ended up in hospital”.
Naidoo, in her affidavit, had denied committing any crimes and said she earned her living from running a take-away service from home and selling Eastern wear. - Independent on Saturday