20 Jul 2006
Fraudster 'needs help'
Nelspruit - A man accused of committing cellphone fraud, faces a separate charge of impersonating a policeman and robbing a man of R10 000.Dean van Coller, 34, of Hectorspruit pleaded guilty in Nelspruit magistrate's court on Wednesday and asked for help.
He told the court: "It seems prison cannot help me."
Van Coller has been kept in custody since May 12 when he was arrested and appeared on the impersonation charge.
"I want to change my life. I want to be a better person. Sending me to prison will not help me. I need professional help."
The fraud case was postponed to August 16 when social workers will submit a pre-sentencing report.
He is accused of stealing hire-purchase slips from a cellphone outlet where his girlfriend worked and using them to buy two cellphones worth R9 200 from the shop.
He then sold the phones.
His girlfriend worked at the shop and he was visiting her when he came across the hire-purchase form, which had been partly filled in. He fraudulently completed the forms.
He said his girlfriend was not aware of what he had done.
Charges against girlriend withdrawn
His girlfriend, Hester Scheepers, 28, of Burgersfort, appeared in court with him and was cleared by Van Coller's statement.
Charges against her were withdrawn, but she has been fired from work.
Van Coller was out on R1 000 bail for the fraud case when he was arrested for impersonating a police officer and aggravated robbery, together with another girlfriend.
His bail was then withdrawn. He is accused of pretending to be a policeman and trying to take R10 000 from a man in Kamagugu.
The man called his lawyer, however, and Van Coller was caught.
He will appear in court for this on Thursday.
Besides these cases, there apparently are more coming up against him this month, including car theft and possession of a firearm and ammunition.
