PORT ELIZABETH - DA COUNCILLOR'S WIFE SENTENCED TO 8 YEARS FOR THEFT OF NEARLY R900 000

A POPULAR DA ward councillor cried quietly in the Port Elizabeth Commercial Crimes Court yesterday as his wife was sentenced to eight years in prison for the theft of nearly R900 000.

Yvette Greyling, 43, tried to fight back the tears as the court was told how she regretted her actions and had not tried to use her young children as a way to escape jail.

At one point her husband, Francois, a Despatch ward councillor, stood up to hand his wife a tissue.

Greyling pleaded guilty to stealing about R880 000 while working as an estate agent at Just Letting Uitenhage between 2013 and November 2014.

She bought the business, a franchise of Just Property Group, with her husband in 2007.

She then bought his share in October 2009.

When her business ran into financial trouble in 2013, she began misappropriating the funds in her clients’ trust accounts to keep the business afloat.

According to a probation officer’s report handed to the court in mitigation of sentence yesterday, Greyling first tried alternative methods to keep the agency in business.

She borrowed money from the bank or her parents and even started up two independent companies to supplement income for Just Letting.

VIA - heraldlive.co.za