Durban - A desperate 74-year-old Avoca grandmother who was in pain, turned to traditional healers to cure her.
But she was conned of her jewellery and accused of trying to bring back a lost lover.
At the start of a trial in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Friday, Bhagwanti Gobind, 74, testified she was conned. Jewellery, including family heirlooms worth more than R1 million, was stolen.
One of the items, she said, included the wedding ring given to her by her husband 53 years ago.
The accused, Charlie Sadie Leketa, who Gobind knew as Abdul, was charged with fraud and theft.
His alleged co-accused, who she knew as Yusuf, cannot be located.
Gobind denied the allegation about procuring their help to bring back a lost lover, asking the court: “What lover are they talking about?” She said that, in 2016, she suffered from body sickness and teeth problems, and could barely move.
She saw an advert about a traditional healer and, out of desperation to get better, called the number.
“The next day a man named Yusuf came over to my house. He said he needed heavyweight jewellery for prayer, so I gave him my wedding jewellery. He said he would take the jewellery to the beach, where he would pray with it to the ancestors to make me better,” said Gobind.
Yusuf returned to her home the next day and told her the jewellery was not heavy enough and he needed more.
“I gave him more and the next time he came, I gave more. Each time he came to my home I would give him more and more jewellery. He would always say he would return the jewellery once the prayer was complete. He came about six or seven times to my home. At one stage, I even borrowed from my husband’s sister and gave it just so I could be cured.”
She said by the sixth or seventh visit, she told him she did not have any more jewellery and he stopped coming to her home. He then allegedly sent his “partner” Abdul (Leketa).
“Abdul came to my home asking for jewellery as well. I managed to give him jewellery because I knew he was Yusuf’s partner and I trusted them because they continued to come back to my home.”
Before Leketa’s third visit, Gobind said she realised something was amiss and feared she may not get her jewellery back, so she told her husband and son what she had done.
Her son took her to the police station where a case was opened.
“He told me the men were lying to me and they were not going to give me back the jewellery.”
When Leketa returned to the home, her son, Pradesh, heard him ask for jewellery.
“He (Pradesh) came out and questioned him. He also called the police.
“Every time they came, I gave something and every time I asked for my jewellery back, they would say tomorrow. But tomorrow never came.”
During cross-examination, Leketa’s attorney, Mr Mlonewe, said: “He claims that his name is not Abdul but it’s Charlie Sadie Leketa.”
To this, Gobind responded: “He introduced himself to me as Abdul He is the same person who would come to my house. I would give him the jewellery.”
The attorney continued: “My client agrees that he came to your home, but he says it concerned bringing back a lost lover.”
Gobind said: “My husband is 81 years old. He is a factory owner. What lover are they talking about? They (the accused) cannot find any words to prove me wrong, so they are saying strange things about me.”
Pradesh testified that, on the day Leketa was arrested, he heard the accused ask his mother for more
jewellery.
“He came with a white cloth and claimed the jewellery he had taken was in that cloth. When I told him I was calling the police, he tried to attack me and then tried to flee by attempting to jump our fence, but I pulled him down from the fence.”
Investigating officer, detective warrant officer Sanjay Arunjeeth said when he opened the white cloth he found a flask, a broken block, and other waste material.
“After arresting the accused, he took me to his home, where we searched for the jewellery but there was nothing there. He then took me to Yusuf’s home but he was also not there I have made attempts to locate Yusuf but it seems he has since moved and there is no photo or proper name for me to identify him.”
The case was adjourned to next month.