Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson yesterday remanded to prison a 55-year-old father of four who allegedly attempted to sell a house to a woman when he had already sold it to two other persons.
John Nedd of Lot 104 Brickdam pleaded not guilty to the charge of obtaining money by false pretence.
He denied that on April 21, with intent to defraud, he obtained $1,245,000 from Anjanee Bastian under the pretext that he was in the position to sell her a property at Lot 207 Lamaha Gardens, when he knew this was false.
Nedd’s lawyer said that her client had bought the property but had sold it to someone else.
The lawyer said Bastian had given her client $24 million for the property and that this was done under a contract. She said the charge against Nedd was misleading since he had recompensed Bastian with $23 million and asked for reasonable bail.
Meanwhile, Bastian, who was also present in court, said she had given Nedd $24,245,000 for the property but later found out that she could not have bought the property since it was already sold to two other persons.
She said when she confronted Nedd about this he gave her back $23 million. She said that her attempts to contact him at his Brickdam home for the remainder of the money had proven futile for several weeks after.
Meanwhile, the prosecution stated that the charge was brought against Nedd following advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DDP). The prosecutor said the case file will be sent back to the DPP for further advice.
Objecting to Nedd’s bail application, the prosecutor said that when the police made attempts to contact him at his Lot 104 Brickdam home their efforts had proved futile on several occasions. The prosecutor said the police were not sure of Nedd’s true home address.
The lawyer then stated that the prosecution should not rely only on information from Bastian but should conduct a proper investigation.
She said her client indeed lives at Brickdam but since he was a businessman he would not be at home waiting for the police.
The magistrate subsequently ordered that Nedd be remanded to prison and that he return to court on September 15.
