VEREENIGING – A woman who allegedly embezzled R7.3m from a local car dealer sat with her head down in court last Tuesday and sobbed when she briefly appeared in the regional court.

Joané van de Gevel (full name Jacoba Johanna Magretha van de Gevel) is accused by her former employer, Johannes Jurgens Hattingh (65), of embezzling almost R7.3m from his company in a year.

In 2023, Van de Gevel was a secretary/bookkeeper at Hattingh’s company, Martin Morgan Motors.

She allegedly committed fraud by transferring funds from the company’s bank account to her personal bank account. She also failed to pay several creditors of Martin Morgan Motors.

Vaalweekblad reported in 2023 that Van de Gevel had already been found guilty of theft in the South Gauteng High Court in 2022 after she stole from an engineering company.

Van de Gevel, who worked for STAHL Crane Systems as a service manager for more than a decade, reportedly stole close to a million rand (according to court documents between R940 000 and R961 767) from the company where she was considered one of the “most reliable staff members”.

According to court documents, Van de Gevel pleaded guilty and expressed remorse for her actions.

She was then sentenced to six years in prison, which was suspended in total for a period of five years on the condition that she was not found guilty of fraud or theft charges again during that period.

Now she is accused of having also embezzled money from Martin Morgan Motors while she was serving the suspended sentence.

Colleagues at Martin Morgan Motors whom Vaalweekblad spoke to remember Van de Gevel as a deeply religious Christian who regularly prayed for other employees.

Lawyer Muhammed Omar is representing Van de Gevel.

Regional Magistrate Chris Kruger adjourned the case until April 8 so that Omar could take instructions from his client.