NORTHERN CAPE – The Kimberley Commercial Crimes Court convicted and sentenced 41-year-old Patricia Staffa for fraud and forgery.

Staffa was employed as a license testing officer at the Traffic Unit of Siyathemba Local Municipality between September 2016 and June 2018. During the said period, the accused unlawfully, falsely and with the intend to defraud, misrepresented to Siyathemba Local Municipality at Prieska in the Regional Division of the Northern Cape that during December 1999 she was awarded a Grade 12 Senior Certificate by the Department of Education.

The municipality suffered an actual prejudice amount of R492 334-98 as a result of misrepresentation. Staffa was sentenced to a fine of R60 000-00 or three years imprisonment and a further two years imprisonment wholly suspended for a period of five years.

Source: South African Police Service