Pretoria - A mother of four desperate to avoid her husband losing a day’s pay as the family could not afford it, issued him with a false medical certificate to give to his employer, but she has now earned herself a criminal record. She also has to pay a R2 000 fine.
“I was desperate to help him, as he was sick for a day, but his employer – the Hawks – wanted a medical certificate,” Ronel van Heerden told the Pretoria News.
“We could not afford to go to the doctor, as it was towards the end of the month. We were cash-strapped.”
This week, she was convicted in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on a charge of forgery and uttering and slapped with a R2 000 fine on each charge, or a four-month jail sentence. The court ordered that she effectively had to pay R2 000 or serve a four-month stint in jail.
Van Heerden, a legal secretary, pleaded guilty to the charges. “I now realise what I did was stupid, but I had to help my husband as we could not do without a day’s wages.”
Her husband Dirkse, a security guard in the employ of the Hawks, stayed home on Saturday, August 10, last year, as he was not feeling well.
Being a weekend, the closest doctor to their house charged extra for consulting fees, which they couldn’t afford.
Dirkse phoned his commanding officer to tell him he felt under the weather and would not come in.
But when he returned to work on Monday, he was told to provide a medical certificate or lose a day’s salary. “I told my husband not to worry. I was sure the police would understand and not deduct the money.”
Ronel said the police insisted on a medical certificate and she decided to help her husband.
“I took a medical certificate issued earlier to myself and Tippexed out the information, adding my husband’s name.”
She then made a copy of the document and gave it to her husband’s employer. “I told my husband not to worry as I asked a doctor friend of mine to issue a certificate. I told him that my doctor friend said there was nothing wrong in giving a medical certificate after the fact.”
Ronel said her husband was relieved and believed everything was in order. “I never told him I had forged the certificate.”
Her husband was told a month later that the Hawks were investigating a case of fraud against him. “My husband confronted me. I started crying and told him everything.”
Ronel said it was a stressful period, as she was pregnant at the time and worried about money.
Her husband was charged, together with her, for fraud but the charge against him was withdrawn.
He is still employed by the Hawks, but is at home on stress leave. He is in a labour dispute with his employer and was suspended without a salary for several months.
She thinks the criminal charges over the medical certificate are part of a vendetta against her husband. “This is all terribly embarrassing, as I just wanted to help. But I did it to protect my family,” Ronel said.
Pretoria News