A “heart-broken” woman, who sought help from a psychic to “connect” with her dead mother, to find closure after her death, is claiming millions after the latter allegedly blackmailed her by threatening to divulge certain intimate details if she was not paid. Grieving daughter wanted to find closure after her mother’s death was threatened and blackmailed
A “heart-broken” woman, who sought help from a psychic to “connect” with her dead mother, to find closure after her death, is claiming millions after the latter allegedly blackmailed her by threatening to divulge certain intimate details if she was not paid.
The woman, a beauty therapist, known as ‘KA’, turned to the Pietermaritzburg High Court in a bid to retrieve the more than R5-million that she paid to the psychic, Deborah Govender, over months.
Her father also instituted a claim for R540 000.
This is money that he paid over to his daughter in the belief that she was setting-up a beauty shop and needed the money.
His daughter did not tell him at the time that the money was part of the blackmail money to pay the psychic.
Govender, represented herself in her defence. She pitched at court on the first day of the trial and then vanished.
Govender left the court saying she was ill, but attempts to locate her since, failed. She thus did not place her version before the court.
The woman and her father meanwhile asked that she repay the various amounts - running into more than R5m - on the grounds of unjust enrichment.
The court ordered Govender to pay back nearly R5 million to the woman and R540 000 to her father.
The court also ruled that a copy of the judgment had to be handed to the prosecuting authority for consideration of instituting possible criminal proceedings against Govender.
The woman told the court that she was not present when her mother suddenly died of a heart attack in 2015 .
She had a close relationship with her late mother and she regarded her as a friend and a confidant. In addition, she said she did not have an opportunity to bid her farewell and her heart was broken.
She saw an advertisement by Govender on Gumtree, offering psychic services, and responded to it. The advertisement described Govender as being able to “connect with the dead”.
Govender told the woman she was able to connect with the mother and that she could communicate with her. The daughter desperately wanted those services because she wanted closure.
As they both shared the Hindu religion, the woman believed that Govender had supernatural powers, which enabled her to pray to a deity and connect with the dead.
Govender’s fees were loosely discussed.
The woman was not present when the defendant communicated with her late mother. She received updates on these communications and she was thus happy with the services.
At some stage, in the beginning of their relationship, Govender advised the woman that her late mother was happy that she was in contact with her and forming a relationship with the psychic.
The woman felt a sense of relief when she received updates from Govender and she commenced making various payments. According to her, she was happy to pay Govender in the initial stages of their relationship but not after October 20, 2017. This was when Govender started blackmailing her.
Govender told the woman there were people who wanted to harm her.
She offered a solution and assured the woman that she would stop others from harming her by “putting a spell on them”. Govender then demanded money from the woman for “protection”.
At some stage, Govender went behind the woman’s back and bought a beauty salon, which the woman had intended to buy. The woman then became Govender’s tenant and had to pay monthly rent to her.
The woman testified that she paid various amounts into Govender’s bank accounts and/or other bank accounts that Govender advised.
The blackmailing allegedly continued, with Govender apparently threatening to post intimate details and pictures of the woman on social media.
The woman testified that she shared intimate details of her relationship with her boyfriend and other relationships that she was involved in with Govender. She trusted her and she went as far as sending Govender explicit photographs that she would have sent to her boyfriend.
She was afraid that the exposure of the information would disgrace her conservative family, who were respected by society. The woman made several payments, of which proof of payments were handed to court.
One of the payments was made to a car dealership, demanded by Govender, which she made for the purchase of, or contributed to, a Ford Mustang on behalf of Govender.
Other payments, referred to as “exhibit C” during the trial, described the nature of each transaction, the amounts involved and explanations. They include:
· An internet bank transfer of R100 000 on December 18, 2017: Govender knew the woman was expecting money from her late mother’s estate and she forced her to transfer the money into her bank account.
· A cash withdrawal of R50 000 on 22 January 2018: Govender was aware that the money came from the woman’s trust account and demanded various cash withdrawals.
· A cash withdrawal of R400 000 on 24 March 2018: Govender blackmailed the woman and forced her to withdraw the cash. She threatened to ruin her life if she did not comply.
· An internet bank transfer of R450 000 on 12 June 2018: Govender demanded that the woman withdraw money from a policy she had and make two payments to her.
The alleged blackmail transactions amounted to R4 992 778.61.
Pictures were also handed to court showing Govender wearing pieces of jewellery and a pendant with a Krugerrand coin. The pendant belonged to the woman and it previously belonged to her late grandmother.
Under pressure from Govender, the woman said she was also forced into a situation where she had to lie to her father that she needed money to make payments for the beauty salon.
She later confessed everything to her brother and then approached her current attorneys to take action against the Govender.
The woman’s dad, a “successful” businessman, said he received a call from Govender that his daughter was “indebted” to her to the sum of R540 000 and that he had to settle the debt.
While his relations with his daughter were “strained”, he did not want her to be blackmailed and paid the total (R540 000) at various stages.
Govender had also threatened that she was going to take action if payment was not made.
A clinical psychologist testified that the daughter was emotionally-vulnerable and she was trapped in a traumatic relationship - in which she was forced to pay for services that she did not want or face physical harm or reputational damage.
The court concluded that there was no evidence which suggested that the payments made before October 2017 (when the psychic was said to contact the deceased) were improper and that they were induced by means of fraudulent misrepresentations and/or extortion.
However, the payments made afterwards point to extortion, the court found,