Cape Town – A freelance second hand car salesman who allegedly took an unsuspecting woman for a ride had a “very professional manner”, a court in Cape Town heard on Monday.
The alleged victim, Amanda Cornelius, a clerk at the Bishop Lavis police station on the Cape Flats, told the court tearfully: “I am very disappointed in the accused, because he did not keep his promises to me.”
She testified at the trial of Wayne Fester, who pleaded not guilty before magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg, to eight counts of fraud in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court.
She said she had informed a friend of her need for a reliable second hand car, and that she had borrowed R100 000 from Capitec Bank for the car.
Her friend had introduced her to Fester, described in the charge sheet as a “well-known second hand car salesman”.
She said she met Fester at a shopping mall, where he informed her in a professional manner that he had obtained many reliable second hand cars for people in the past.
She told the court: “When I phoned him more than three days later, to ask the cause of the delay, he said he had used my money to buy a car for himself. ”
Cornelius said she ended up at Wingfield Motors in Goodwood, where a sales woman said she had a suitable car for her, but that Cornelius had to pay a R36 000 deposit.
“I told her I had already paid R100 000 to Fester, and why do I still have to pay her a deposit.”
Cornelius said Fester undertook to pay the deposit from the R100 000, but it later transpired that he had only paid R20 000, leaving a balance of R16 000 unpaid.
She said she took possession of the car from Wingfield Motors, and had to pay the car off in instalments.
She said she had to give up the car as she could not keep up with the instalments, and still pay off the Capitec loan as well.
The case continues on Thursday.
