Thulile Bhebhe, 51, a nurse who faked her husband’s death in order to claim approximately Ksh. 61 million in life insurance and she has been spared jail term. She is a resident of Hayes in West London. She claimed that her husband Bekezela Bhebhe, 54, had died of pulmonary embolism while in Zimbabwe back in August, 2016 and as a result she was not able to pay piling debt.
However, the husband also employed as a nurse at Charing Cross Hospital in London on a day shift on the day he supposedly died.
The life insurance policy was taken through Barclays Bank in 2012 with a premium of Ksh. 7,646 per month for approximately Ksh. 61 million cover underwritten by Aviva. This information was revealed to Inner London Crown Court.
Unfortunately for the woman the investigators from Aviva found out the truth and Mrs. Bhebhe admitted it was a fraud in 2018.
Her defense lawyer, Philip Romans, told the court that the nurse regretted her actions and the couple were in “dire financial straits.” The lady has been surviving on benefits as a result of this conviction she can’t find work. She was handed a two year sentence suspended for two years.
She was given a light sentence because she has two dependent children at home and she was given a chance to rehabilitate.
Mr. Bhebhe was also found guilty of aiding his wife in submission of the fake documents. His finger prints were found on the fraudulent death certificate and image of the same was found on his phone. The man had credit card debts amounting to Ksh. 1.5 million in Kenya shillings and owed Ksh. 760,000 to HMRC unpaid taxes. Despite that, he denied any involvement in the fraud and was cleared by the jury.
‘I don’t think I’m involved in all this. I know very little about this insurance. The day it was taken over I was there in the house but I wasn’t fully involved, I was just there to sign the papers and say yes. ‘I just thought it was ongoing insurance. I never really got into the details of the contracts, what the agreements are.’
Mrs. Bhebhe will be required to engage in 25 days of rehabilitation work and 100 hours of unpaid work as part of her sentence.
‘I read that you came from South Africa and you came as a nurse and you were working until this offence. ‘I’m slightly at a loss why you needed to commit the offence as you were in work until you lost your work as a result of this. ‘And now you are in dire financial hardship. It is true the fraud involved forged documents from Zimbabwe but they weren’t so sophisticated that the authorities could not see through them in the UK and failed to pay out which you intended to obtain,’ the judge told her.
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