Attorney guilty of 'theft by general deficiency'
The KZN High Court (Pietermaritzburg) has found that when disbarred Durban attorney Ian Stokes used R5.7m of his clients’ funds, he had the necessary intention to steal the money, says a report in The Mercury. Stokes was convicted of the charge of ‘theft by general deficiency’ of the amount. The theft took place between June 1998 and October 2000 while he was running a law firm and a separate business dealing in RAF claims in Durban.
Judge Esther Steyn extended his bail conditions until October when evidence on pre-sentencing would be led.
Steyn found that when Stokes used the money from his trust accounts, he did not have sufficient funds to meet the demands of his creditors. There was no doubt as to the purpose of the deposits into his trust account and what he had to use the money for.
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