With white collar crimes on the increase, the Durban Specialised Commercial Crimes Court took a tough stance when handing down a sentence to a Midlands teacher June 27 , 2018. 49-year-old Vindra Jaickaran, an IT teacher at Cowen House in Hilton, was arrested and pleaded guilty to 72 counts of fraud worth more than R2 million in February of this year.

She convinced the school’s management that she’d obtained cancer, she was placed on paid leave, while a substitute was employed to fill in her position.

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During her case, she admitted to transferring money from the school’s account into her personal account, by writing up invoices. Ms Jaickaran claims to have suffered from psychological problems at the time of the crime, but Magistrate Judy Naidoo believes that she was not suffering from any mental problems, but simply thought she could get away with the white collar crime.

Ms Jaickaran has been sentenced to ten years in prison, of which half the sentence is suspended. Ms Jaickaran is expected to appeal the ruling.

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