“We got along well from the beginning,” Johanna Petronella Laas’s boss said, taking the stand solemnly to testify, “I liked her from the start. Since the day she started working for me.”
On January 8, Magistrate J.J. Combrink heard the testimony of Dr Piet Botha in the case of Johanna Petronella Laas versus the State.
The case was the first to be heard off of the roll that morning; and the tension was palpable as Mrs Laas and Mr Botha sat at opposite ends of the spectator’s benches, awaiting commencement of the trial.
Mrs Laas stands accused of theft against her employer; a crime which carries a minimum penalty of 15 years, and a maximum penalty of 25 years.
Should Mrs Laas be found guilty of the crime, she could be facing an onerous prison sentence.
At the initiation of the proceedings on January 8, Mrs Laas was asked to plead pertaining to the charges brought against her.
Her short blond hair obscured her eyes as she lowered her head and muttered “not guilty.”
The State alleges that between 2012 and 2016, Mrs Laas stole just short of R900 000 from her employer by cooking the business’s books.
Mrs Laas had been employed as a personal assistant, and was partially responsible for capturing the business’s financial transactions in its ledgers and journals.
Her employer alleges that he realized that one of his employees had been stealing from him after he received only four cash payments from Mrs Laas over a 12 month period.
“I didn’t originally think she was stealing from me,” Dr Botha testified under cross-examination by the state, “I asked her why there had been such a notable decline of cash coming into the business recently; but she assured me that it was because clients simply didn’t pay with cash in this day and age. She told me all of the businesses in eMalahleni were under financial pressure. It made sense, so I believed her.”
Dr Botha quickly found out that his business was suffering under more than just South Africa’s innate economical conditions.
Upon closer inspection of the company’s financials, Dr Botha realised that with nearly each cash entry into the business’s journal some cash would be missing by the time the amount was captured into the bank reconciliation statement.
“I called Mrs Laas into my office and asked to see the ‘cash-up book’ to compare it with my bank reconciliation. Initially the specific book I had requested was missing, but after two days Mrs Laas magically seemed to find it. It was then, after doing my own calculations, that I realised what must have happened. I called Mrs Laas into my office and confronted her, at which point she admitted she had taken the money,” Dr Botha testified.
There was some debate between Magistrate J.J. Combrink, the defence and the state as to whether this statement would be admissible; and if so, whether it would be admissible as an admission or confession.
The statement was seemingly accepted as an admission after a short adjournment.
“Why did Mrs Laas say she stole nearly R900 000 from you? Did she give you a reason?” the defence pried, to which Dr Botha responded “I asked her why she did it, but all she could say was ‘I don’t know.’”
The court has been adjourned and the case will roll-over to January 9.
On January 9 the case will kick-off with Mrs Laas’s employer being presented for cross-examination to the defence.
