Cape Town – An alleged confidence trickster who dated an elderly widow several times to gain her trust in him, then allegedly cheated her out of more than R5-million, hopes to be let off the hook on multiple charges of fraud.
His lawyer has submitted written representations for the withdrawal of the charges to the Western Cape Directorate for Public Prosecutions, but has not yet received a response, a court in Cape Town heard on Friday.
Richard Allen Janse van Vuuren, 60, of Arthur Seat Mansions in Sea Point, appeared in the Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Bellville on Friday before Magistrate Sabrina Sonenberg.
Prosecutor Ezmeralda Johnson alleges that he persuaded the widow and her brother to part with a total of R5,450,000 for the purchase of uncut diamonds to be cut and polished and sold for them in the United Kingdom.
Janse van Vuuren has not yet been asked to plead. The charge sheet alleges that he befriended the woman, 61, and dated her several times for coffee and lunch to gain her trust.
During the dates he told her he was retired and divorced and licensed to deal in uncut diamonds. At one stage he asked if she was interested in buying uncut diamonds, which he would have cut for her at a friend’s factory and then resell them for her in the UK.
She was interested and informed her brother of the "investment opportunity". They fell for the story and together raised R5,450,000 between December 2013 and June 2014.
It is alleged that he even proposed marriage to the woman. The State alleges that the woman and her brother never saw any diamonds and that whenever she inquired about her investment Van Vuuren assured her that it was still safe.
The brother became suspicious when no profits were forthcoming, but Van Vuuren assured him that the diamonds had been sent to London to be auctioned.
In the Easter of 2015, Van Vuuren informed them that the diamonds had finally been sold and that the buyers had 10 days in which to pay.
In April of that year there was a news report of a heist at the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Company in London and Van Vuuren said the diamonds had been stolen.
The State alleges that the two victims never received any dividends, nor their money back, and the police investigation revealed that Van Vuuren was in fact not a licensed diamond dealer at all. Janse van Vuuren was warned to appear in court again on May 16.