GAUTENG. – Letitia van den Berg, who posed as a social worker specializing in adoptions and allegedly defrauded numerous childless couples, died on Sunday 11 October before the court could deliver its judgment in her fraud case on Monday. Her death certificate was filed at the Pretoria High Court this morning (Friday), after which the case was struck from the roll. AfriForum's private prosecution unit supported five of the victims – Sonia Leithgöb, Kimberley Kruger, Erica Franks, Shannon Staniforth and Sandra Pretorius – through the legal process.
Barry Bateman, spokesman for AfriForum's private prosecution unit, says the unit became involved after the state allegedly failed to provide sufficient support to the victims. Van den Berg allegedly asked prospective adoptive parents for money for adoptions that would never take place. In some cases, babies were allegedly shown to couples without the biological mothers' consent to the adoption. According to the charge sheet, she even sent ultrasound scans and requested money for alleged hospital bills, before later claiming that the babies' biological mothers had miscarried or died. According to AfriForum, the alleged fraud dates back to 2014. Some couples prepared nurseries and purchased supplies for children who never came home to them.
Pretorius says Van den Berg's death has denied the victims the opportunity to hear a judgment and get the closure they had hoped for. She said she wanted to hear that Van den Berg was found guilty and sentenced for what was done to them. Staniforth, who says her family has lived with the consequences for four and a half years, recounts how they prepared a nursery and grieved for babies they believed had died. She says they wanted the court to acknowledge their suffering. Bateman says the unit will continue to support victims who, he says, have been abandoned by institutions.
This article is an automatic English translation of a Nuusflits article originally published in Afrikaans. Read the Afrikaans original.
