Woman pleads guilty to save face
A Durban woman pleaded guilty to extorting R155 000 from her former lover in an effort to spare both their families the trauma of a trial.
|||Durban - A Durban woman pleaded guilty to extorting R155 000 from her former lover in an effort to spare both their families the trauma of a protracted trial in which the salacious details of their extra-marital affair would be revealed.
Self-employed perfume seller and mother of two minor children, Aruna Seebran, 41, entered into a plea bargain with the State at the Pietermaritzburg Regional Court on Wednesday, saying she did not wish the intense personal details of her relationship with Deonarain Maharaj to be revealed during a lengthy trial, to the detriment of both families.
The petite Seebran, of Hillary in Durban, is the former owner of the Chatsworth-based Universal Coach Tours. She has been a self-employed perfume seller for the past year.
In terms of the plea agreement, Seebran pleaded guilty to one count of extortion and was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years on condition that she was not convicted of a similar offence within the period.
Her victim and former lover, wealthy Pietermaritzburg transport boss, Maharaj, the owner of the established Maharaj Coaches based in Willowton, agreed to the terms of the plea bargain.
Dressed in a black Roxy T-shirt and Guess jeans, Seebran, who is on R15 000 bail in another case for which she is charged with the theft of jewellery worth R1 million, told the court she and Maharaj had been involved in a sexual relationship while Maharaj was married.
Seebran said that her friends, identified as Duel Matthew, Leslie Naidoo and one Sudhir (who has since died), became aware of her affair with Maharaj, and they persuaded her to become part of a scheme to extort money from him.
Seebran, who said she had agreed to the extortion plot due to a gambling addiction, explained that they were going to use the threat of revealing the affair to Maharaj’s wife.
Using her cellphone, Matthew sent a message to Maharaj around August 2013, advising him that if he wanted to keep his affair with Seebran a secret, he had to deposit R155 000 into a designated bank account.
As a result of the threat of exposure, Maharaj paid the entire amount into the account, which was immediately withdrawn by Matthew and his associates.
Seebran claimed further that Matthew, Naidoo and Sudhir, prior to extorting money from Maharaj, had extorted R150 000 from her and her vehicle, a Mazda 4X2 valued at R180 000, in order to keep the affair a secret.
Seebran admitted that she received a benefit from the R155 000 that Maharaj had paid up.
At her initial court appearance, the court heard that Seebran had threatened to show Maharaj’s wife a video of the two of them having intimate relations.
However, this allegation did not form part of her plea.
In coming to an agreement on sentence, the State, defence and investigating team took various issues into consideration, including the seriousness of the offence, and the fact that Seebran was widowed with two children, aged 10 and 12.
She is the sole supporter of her children, selling perfume and earning R10 000 per month.
She is also a first offender, has a gambling problem, and suffers from a “debilitating, life-threatening disease” for which she requires constant treatment and monitoring.
Daily News