By: Natasha Archary
Sophia Najjia, a Ugandan tradition healer was sentenced to 30-years behind bars for defrauding a miner out of his pension.
The 31-year old woman who was an illegal immigrant in South Africa was charged for unfair business practice, defeating the ends of justice, fraud and illegal immigration.
Najjia swindled a 54-year old Mozambican national who worked as a miner in Welkom out of R955 300.
His entire pension fund is now lost after being promised he could make millions in Najjia’s investments.
The man met Najjia, who is his girlfriend’s sister in 2020, when she encouraged him to buy a “miracle box” worth R2000.
Handing over the money to her, Najjia then “demonstrated” how the box worked and the miner was asked to put a coin inside it.
After praying over the box, Najjia opened it to reveal that the coin had turned into a large sum of money.
Impressed by the result, the miner was told he didn’t need his job as he could make riches from the miracle box.
He then retired from his job in August 2020.
According to Free State police spokesperson Captain Stephen Thakeng, in September 2020, the miner handed Najjia R233 000 to invest in the box.
He received the rest of his money, almost R689 000 in October that year, which he also gave to Sophia Najjia.
The miner was told to return home to Mozambique to get soil from his yard which will give him his ancestor’s blessings to multiply the money into millions.
When he returned from Mozambique, his girlfriend and Najjia were nowhere to be found.
The miner opened a case of fraud at Welkom police station and Najjia was sentenced on Monday.
Recently a number of cases of swindling has been brought to light, with the more recent one being the holiday swindler Tasneem Moosa.
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