Dating scammer who stole from two pensioners jailed for 25 years

Two Eastern Cape women who unwittingly became involved with a dating scammer, losing their pensions to his schemes, have obtained justice. 

Lucious Charles Saba, a Tanzanian, has been sentenced to 25 years' imprisonment by the Qonce (King William's Town) regional court.  

The retirees were swindled after the 30-year-old convinced them to cash in their pension payouts and invest them in a fictitious company.

“Saba, who was in South Africa illegally, approached the two women, then aged 58 and 59 respectively, and proposed love to them on different occasions in 2017. They both got into romantic relationships with him, unbeknown to one another,” said National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Luxolo Tyali.

“He managed to convince them to withdraw their pension benefits and give it to him 'to invest'. They did so, and one withdrew R1.6m and the other R900,000.

“The funds were deposited in the bank account of YNM Investments, a Durban-based company run by Saba’s acquaintances, countrymen and other foreigners from other countries.

“After the two women became suspicious of their 'investments', they tried to contact Saba, but he had vanished.”

They alerted the police, but by then the YNM Investments account had been emptied.

Saba was later arrested in Durban and the two women identified him in an identity parade.

The NPA’s Asset Forfeiture Unit got involved but could only recover an old Jaguar car valued at R200,000.

During the trial, Saba pleaded not guilty and claimed the women were mistaking him for somebody else. Prosecutor Cyril Mahamba presented evidence that corroborated the two victims' versions and the court convicted him.

Mahamba argued that a lengthy jail term was the most appropriate as Saba was not remorseful, offended while in the country illegally and the two women would not be able to recover their life savings. The court agreed.

Eastern Cape director of public prosecutions Barry Madolo said the sentence was the desired deterrent to other like-minded criminals who target vulnerable members of society and rob them of their hard-earned pensions.

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