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Guyanese ‘faith healer’ jailed for £1m fraud
London – A Guyana-born woman, who scammed people out of millions of dollars with promises for cures for cancer from a tree in the Amazon jungle in Suriname, has been jailed for 10 years.
Jailed: Juliette d’Souza
Justice Ian Karsten in passing sentence on Juliette D’Souza, Friday, after she was found guilty of 20 counts of obtaining property by deception and three counts of fraud, said it was among the worst case of confidence fraud that he had ever heard.
The court was told that over a 12 year period, D’Souza, who used a number of aliases and addresses, conned 11 people from the affluent Hampstead neighborhood in northern London into believing she was a spiritual healer who could cure cancer by hanging cash from a sacred tree in the Amazon jungle in Suriname.
The prosecution during its opening statement on Wednesday gave a stunning account of how she cunningly tricked her victims into giving vast amounts of their money over to her. It is believed she was paid over one million pounds (One British Pound =US$1.67 cents) in the 12 years.
The promises she made were never kept, however, and the money was instead used to fund an elaborate lifestyle of designer clothing, luxurious houses and first class travel.
Justice Karsten said she had cast a “spell” over her victims and persuaded them to hand over the money or they would face “terrifying” consequences.
“The most serious aspect of this case is that you wrecked the lives of a number of your victims and you have done it out of pure greed,” the judge said, noting that an aggravating feature was that she spent the money on “high living” in the United Kingdom and abroad, buying luxury items such as a £3,000 Hermes handbag. (cnweeklynews.com)
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