Cloned card shopper in court

Published Jul 8, 2014

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Cape Town - A woman who allegedly went on a spending spree with cloned bank cards appeared in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court on Tuesday.

Anushka Rossi, 30, will be back in court next week Thursday after the matter was postponed because she had engaged a privately funded lawyer.

Rossi, 30, faces 260 counts, including fraud and violations of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act and the Identification Act.

She had earlier opted for free legal aid representation in court, but at Tuesday's proceedings legal aid lawyer Hayley Lawrence said her mandate had been terminated, and Rossi had engaged privately funded attorney Keith Gess.

Rossi appeared in court before magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg, who postponed the case to July 17 for consultation purposes.

Lawrence told the court that she had already handed full details of the case to Gess.

The case took an unusual twist in previous proceedings, when prosecutor Gertrude Magopeni disclosed that Rossi, who had been out on warning, had been re-arrested on similar charges, and was back in custody.

Tuesday's appearance was her 15th, following her arrest in August last year.

The prosecutor alleges that the first spree lasted only three months, from April to June 2012, and involved R229,865.

The alleged spree started in Johannesburg at Montecasino in Fourways, The Baron in Sandton and The Pilgrims Trading Store at OR Tambo International Airport, east of Johannesburg, before she moved to Cape Town.

In Cape Town, some of her numerous alleged victims are listed in the charge sheet as the Cape Town Fish Market restaurant, the Mugg & Bean restaurant at Cape Town International Airport, various Pick n Pay outlets, the M-Kem Pharmacy in Cape Town, Foschini, Cash Crusaders, Clicks, the Farmhouse Hotel in Langebaan, Panarottis, KFC, Sheet Street, and Mitchell's Waterfront Brewery.

She also visited the Goudini Spar in Rawsonville, and made several purchases at Midmar Liquors outlets.

Rossi said at earlier proceedings that she would plead not guilty to the 260 counts relating to the first alleged spree.

Sapa

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