Former manager at special needs school sentenced for R6-million fraud

​The Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court has sentenced former Human Resources Manager at the New Hope School to six years imprisonment for fraud.

Christopher Fischer defrauded the school for learners with special needs of R6-million.

He had faced 11 counts of fraud committed between July 2018 and April 2022.

Fischer’s duties included managing payments of staff that the School Governing Body (SGB) had employed.

National Prosecuting Authority’s Lumka Mahajana, “The man committed the offences by opening multiple bank accounts registered in his name and fraudulently making payments to ghost employees. With the proceeds of crime, he bought a VW Golf GTI valued at R150 000 and further fed his gambling addiction. In court he asked to get a lenient sentence, however, the NPA argued for a sentence of direct imprisonment.”