Disbarred attorney jailed for trust fund theft

Disbarred attorney Ian Stokes – convicted of stealing more than R5.7m of his friends' money from a trust account – was sentenced to in effect six years in jail by the KZN High Court (Durban) yesterday, says a News24 report. He was refused leave to appeal his conviction and was also refused bail pending a petition to the Chief Justice. ‘Justice has been done,’ said Durban businessman Robbie Sevel, a former friend of Stokes who gave him R2m to invest in a business to ‘buy’ Road Accident Fund claims. ‘He never, ever apologised. I would have liked to have seen him get the 15-year sentence prescribed by legislation,’ he said. Stokes, now 51, fled SA in 2000, abandoning his La Lucia Ridge law practice and his pregnant wife, and leaving a trail of debt. He was tracked to the US and was extradited back to SA in 2004. His trial was delayed until August 2014 after he sought, and failed, to get a permanent stay of prosecution from the SCA. Arguing for a non-custodial sentence, Stokes said he was the primary caregiver for his wife, who has mental health issues and is institutionalised, and his teenage daughter, who has learning difficulties. He also suffers from epilepsy. Judge Esther Steyn said while she had to consider this, she had to consider deterrence and the public interest. To make matters worse, he had brought the legal profession into disrepute. ‘Evidence was placed before me by the Attorneys Fidelity Fund that, in the 2015 financial year, claims (because of dishonest attorneys) had reached R120m.’ He was not remorseful and had failed to compensate any of the complainants, even though he earned between R80 000 and R100 000 a month.