Cape Town – Charges of theft against two estate agents, who stood accused of stealing more than R2-million from their trust bank account, were “squashed” on Tuesday.
Gavin Ellison Wright, 48, and Kevin Roy Wustefeld-Janssens, 56, both of Lategan Street, Hout Bay, appeared in the Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Bellville, before magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg.
Their defence lawyer, William Booth said the quashing was akin to an acquittal – once a court has ruled the accused acquitted of the charges, or the charges were quashed, the charges could not be re-instituted. Booth told the court he had requested details of the charges since November last year, and that the State had twice failed to comply with court orders to furnish the defence with the required details.
The magistrate declared the two men free to go. The quashing happened after the State failed to furnish the defence with details of the charges, for the third time, at Tuesday’s proceedings.
The two men had faced 126 counts of fraud, alternatively theft. According to the charge sheet, Wright was the principal estate agent at a Hout Bay franchise of the Leapfrog Properties Group. Wright, in turn, had engaged Wustefeld-Janssen as his administration officer.
The State alleged that they misappropriated trust funds, and that they were caught out when an estate agent complained to the authorities that the franchise had not paid her commission. According to the charge sheet, an investigation revealed that they had allegedly stolen trust funds totalling R2,424,110.
Wright, alone, faced an addition charge involving his alleged failure to keep proper accounting records, but this, too, was quashed.