Three members of a KwaZulu-Natal family have been sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering a woman they had employed as a nanny.
Amdhew Chuttergoon, 49, his wife Managie Jessica Chuttergoon, 49, and their daughter, Thurashni Naidoo had pleaded not guilty to murdering Rashree Dwarika, 52, who they claimed had drowned in the swimming pool of a holiday home they had rented in Umzumbe on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast in June 2023.
But the state led the evidence of 18 witnesses, including voice recognition experts, which proved they had fraudulently taken out a R750,000 life insurance policy with Discovery in Dwarika’s name.
After her death, they attempted to claim on the policy.
However, the claim was declined because of suspicion over the circumstances of Dwarika’s death, and in September the three were arrested. Bail was refused and they remained in custody until their trial, which was heard by judge Garth Harrison, sitting at the Port Shepstone high court.
While the post-mortem showed that Dwarika had indeed drowned, the state led evidence to show that the family had wanted her dead.
In a chilling WhatsApp message, referring to the fact that Dwarika had to undergo medical tests ostensibly for medical aid, Naidoo said: “She better do the bloods. I need her to kick the bucket.”
Harrison heard evidence that the family had posted on social media that they were looking for the services of a nanny to assist with the younger children and do household chores. They specifically wanted a single woman, with no close family ties.
Dwarika, who had two adult children, was employed in mid-May 2023.
The family then put their plan into action. The mother and daughter – pretending to be Dwarika – contacted Discovery and then forged her signature on the relevant life insurance documentation.
The policy was due to start on July 1. But on June 15, Naidoo, pretending to be Dwarika, called wanting to urgently pay a double premium so that the policy could be backdated to June 1 that year. Voice recognition experts confirmed this in their evidence in court.
They then made a last-minute booking at the Umzumbe beach cottage.
On June 17, Dwarika was found floating in the pool, having apparently drowned while the family were on the beach.
But evidence was led that it was impossible for her to have drowned as she was 1.55m tall and the depth of the water was 1.24m.
The police used a human model showing how the water would not even have reached her shoulders and she would easily have been able to stand.
After Harrison convicted them of premeditated murder, defeating the ends of justice, fraud, forgery, uttering and theft, Amdhew, in mitigation of sentence, then “confessed” to the crimes.
In a statement to the court, he said Harrison had been right in his summation of what had actually happened. However, it was too little too late, and they were sentenced to life imprisonment for the premeditated murder.
Harrison also imposed a 15-year sentence for fraud and 15 years for forgery and uttering. The latter sentences will run concurrently with the life sentences. – TimesLIVE
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