Bethal – Doctor Sobetha is not a medical practitioner.
Doctor is his first name but he prefers to pretend to be a lawyer.
On Thursday, 5 June 2025, the 32-year-old Doctor was convicted by the Bethal Magistrate’s Court, in Mpumalanga, of fraud for pretending to be a lawyer.
The imposter who does not even have a Grade 12 education somehow coned a murder suspect into believing he was a lawyer.
The murder accused paid Doctor R40 000 for his services.
Doctor was first arrested in the same court last year, during a bail application for “his client”.
The client had been arrested for murder.
Matters came to a head after the state prosecutor pointed out Doctor’s evident lack of knowledge of legal procedures during the bail application.
Doctor was requested to prove before the court that he was a bona fide legal practitioner, but he failed to do so.
Doctor was arrested for impersonating a lawyer and defrauding “his client” of R40 000.
The suspect, Sobetha, was granted bail in 2024 and never set foot in court again.
Mpumalanga Hawks spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Magonseni Nkosi, said Sobetha absconded while on bail and was later rearrested in KwaZulu-Natal last month.
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Investigations led the Hawks’ Tactical Operations Management System to Durban, where the suspect was arrested on 22 May 2025.
He was brought back to Mpumalanga and appeared before the Bethal Magistrate’s Court on 30 May 2025.
When appearing for the second time on Thursday, 5 June 2025, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four years in prison with an option to pay a R20 000 fine.
Two years of his four years, imprisonment was suspended for five years on condition that he is not found guilty of a similar offence.
The court further ordered the suspect to pay back the R40 000 he unlawfully received from his client.
Lieutenant Colonel Nkosi said Doctor is expected to pay back the money in monthly installments of R3 000.
