Tearful Roland Williams begs for mercy

A teary Roland Williams turned on the taps in a desperate plea for leniency yesterday, in the end escaping direct imprisonment for an act of fraud in 2014.

During sentencing in the Port Elizabeth Commercial Crimes Court, Williams laid bare his lavish lifestyle, claiming his monthly expenses totalled R81 000 while suggesting he was better off now as a consultant than when he worked as Nelson Mandela Bay’s communications director.

Williams was given three years’ house arrest with strict conditions and a suspended prison term.

He also has to pay back the R96 000 he cheated Santam Limited out of.

Taking to the stand for the first time since his arrest and conviction, Williams begged for forgiveness – if not for him, for the sake of his wife and children.

“I am sorry. I did something terribly, terribly wrong. Please forgive me, not for me but for my children,” he said.

During an emotionally charged day, the former jet-setting spin doctor was reprimanded by magistrate Lionel Lindoor for not cutting back on expenses and for talking in circles.

Lindoor, in addition to the house arrest, sentenced Williams to 16 hours of community service a month over that period, while also slapping him with a four-year jail sentence, suspended for five years.

He said Williams was not allowed to consume alcohol or drugs for those three years.

Lindoor delved deeply into Williams’s financial affairs, saying that if he was truly struggling financially as he claimed, he could have cut a number of expenses.

Prior to Williams’s testimony, his finances were picked through and his astounding monthly expenses tallied up.

These included a R20 000 bond, R15 000 monthly payments for a car, R10 000 for groceries, R2 000 for clothes, R12 500 for school fees and a DStv bill of R800, among other things.

Williams told the court he earned between R70 000 and R100 000 a month through his consultancy firm.

Williams also testified he wanted the best for his children and that was why he sent them to a private school and provided entertainment for them with the DStv premium package.

“DStv is the only bit of entertainment for the children. I cannot afford to take them to the movies or to Spur,” Williams said.

When his finances were discussed, Lindoor wanted to know why Williams had not cut back to ensure he could pay Santam.

“I was advised by my counsel to allow the court to decide on that matter,” Williams said.

He told the court he could comfortably afford to pay R5 000 monthly to Santam, but Lindoor said in his sentencing that he would have to pay R3 500 a month, with the total amount owed to be paid in full by July 2020 or he would be put behind bars.

The fraud conviction stemmed from a plan Williams claimed was cooked up by his now deceased friend, Raven Rungan, who owned V&R Auto.

Williams and Rungan – who was shot dead a year later – defrauded Santam through a combined insurance claim worth more than R115 000 in 2014.

At the time, Williams was earning R42 000 at the municipality.

Williams’s insurance claim stated that he had rolled his car after swerving to avoid a cow in the road, after which V&R Auto had towed it to its premises.

The following month, R96 400 was paid into Williams’s bank account and R19 404 was paid to V&R Auto for services rendered.

“I didn’t dream up and plan [damaging the car],” Williams said yesterday. “[Rungan] said he had a plan – I went along with something that was wrong. I didn’t know what the details were.”

However, Williams admitted that it was he who had gone to the police station to report the accident which never happened and he who had filled out and submitted the fraudulent claim.

Asked by Lindoor if he had seen the extent of the damage to his car before submitting the insurance claim, Williams said he had not.

“I left the car with [Rungan] and he said he will see what he can do,” Williams said.

Williams admitted owing Rungan roughly R50 000.

Throughout his testimony, Williams acknowledged he had done wrong.

“He [Rungan] didn’t have a gun to my head or threaten me.

“I was wrong, I should have known better,” he said.

Asked by Lindoor why he had gone along with the plan, Williams said: “I have been asking myself that for the past four years.

“I am a fraudster and that stigma will always be attached to me.”

In passing sentence, Lindoor was adamant that a term of direct imprisonment was the appropriate sentence but conceded that it would not be in the interests of Williams’s children. “It is a very serious crime,” he said. “What [Williams] did was deliberate and calculated. There was the opportunity to reconsider but this was not done.”

Lindoor said it was not until late yesterday afternoon that Williams took the court into his confidence by elaborating on his financial situation, including admitting to owning a flat valued at more than R400 000 in which his mother lived.

“In my view, you didn’t show genuine remorse,” he told Williams.

“On the day the trial was meant to start and it became evident that the evidence against you was overwhelming, you then decided to plead.”

Earlier in the day, senior manager for business integrity at Santam, Jerry Chetty, told the court the type of fraud committed by Williams was the most serious form of insurance fraud and that Santam alone had encountered at least 331 cases of insurance fraud since 2015.

Williams’s co-accused, V&R Auto, represented by Rungan’s widow, Renika, received a R120 000 fine suspended for five years and must also pay back the R19 404 received from Santam Ltd for the false claim.