Shocking tale of how ‘sociopath’ shattered Johnston’s life
Following an article that was published on June 3, regarding the conviction of fraudster Riaan Cronje, of Benoni, a victim, Brenda Johnston, shared the traumatic experience she and her parents suffered:
I am writing to hopefully make people aware of the utter devastation that fraudsters cause in their victims’ lives, not just financially, but emotionally and physically, too.
READ OF THE CONVICTION: Fraudster sentenced to 10 years
Our family was introduced to Cronje in October 2011 via my brother, Ross Kidwell, who was promised a job at Kenya Airlines, as Cronje was a manager there.
He soon befriended the family and was always very respectful and pleasant to my parents, Vivien and Bob Kidwell, who were both in their 70s.
In less than three months Cronje had borrowed R100 000 from them and brought along a stamped document from a bank, stating that the money he supposedly paid back would reflect in their account by the end of December 2011.
The money, however, never showed in their account, for which he had a myriad of excuses. I constantly asked him for paperwork, and then the verbal abuse started.
I spoke to my parents about my concerns, but he was so conniving and convincing that they saw him as a knight in shining armour.
My father was a highly respected expert worldwide in the abattoir and meat industry for over 50 years and suffered a massive stroke in 2010.
He became almost bedridden overnight and needed constant care. He was, therefore, also an easy target.
I worked for my dad for many years and Cronje realised that I was his main hurdle, so he started breaking me down until I had a nervous breakdown.
He even managed to arrange for me to be sent far away for treatment, so I landed up in rehab in Cape Town, for alcoholics and drug addicts.
This is despite me never have taken drugs nor even drunk socially.
I wasn’t allowed contact with my family for the first two weeks, and thereafter once a week. The treatment cost R56 000 for the month.
By the time I got back home, Cronje had access to all my parent’s accounts, and had convinced my mother to cash in three policies valued approximately R1.3-million.
He also managed to convince my parents that he wanted to embark on a dehydrated potato snack business as it would be lucrative and he had all the contacts from working at Kenya Airlines for 17 years.
On a number of occasions my mother would say that she wanted her cards back or that she didn’t want to transfer money and he would get abrupt and say ”just do it, I know what I’m doing!”.
He was a 6 foot 5 man,intimidating a 73-year-old five foot lady.
His verbal abuse towards me was getting so bad, so much so that I suffered my first stroke on February 18, 2013.
He was so ruthless that while I was lying in high care, he asked my mother for the registration papers of my car and sold it to a secondhand car dealer in Benoni, without my signature and pocketed R55 000.
Criminal profiling was done on him at a later stage and it was said he was both a psychopath and sociopath and that these types of people are extremely dangerous and clever.
On June 6, 2013, after yet another horrific altercation between Cronje and myself, I drove myself to the Boksburg Police Station. All I had was his name and a partly correct ID number.
A check was run on him and seven and half pages of charges were found, but all of them had been dropped. Charges went back 30 years for theft, fraud and assault.
I was advised to get a protection order for my family and then the SAPS would proceed with the case.
Cronje was ordered to come to the police station, as someone had laid a charge against him. At the station he made a mistake by trying to flee, but was shackled, handcuffed and taken to court.
He spent two weeks in prison and then was able to get out on bail.
Since then it has been a three-year struggle to convict him. The police, and especially the state prosecutor, Maria Olivier, worked tirelessly on this case. Without their dedication, he would be scamming people still today.
Because of his criminal actions, we were left with no food, yet were so blessed with people bringing meals – people we knew and anonymous ones.
In the time it took Cronje to be convicted, my brother Ross Kidwell passed away on June 14, 2014. In 2015, exactly two years after my first stroke, I suffered another one.
I had to learn to walk, write and drive again, as I was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
I have worked so incredibly hard to recover, but now have work again. However, the aftermath of the stroke remains severe.
Sadly, just as we were nearing the end of the Cronje nightmare, my father passed away on March 10, 2016.
I really prayed that he would be with us when Cronje was sentenced.
We knew we wouldn’t get any money back, but my mother and I are thrilled that he can no longer harm innocent, vulnerable people.
I know for a fact that without my faith, and special people like my psychologist, Bronwyn Dooley, and the Rev Stewart Gordon, from Acts Church, I probably would not have survived this ordeal.
My goal now is to try to make a difference in people’s lives.
