A former KwaZulu-Natal magistrate was sentenced in the Pietermaritzburg Regional Court on Monday to 12 years imprisonment for fraud amounting to R100 000.

Johan Caren Fouche will only serve seven of the 12 years as five were conditionally suspended.

The 40-year-old father of one committed the fraud and theft crimes to subsidise his gambling addiction, said Magistrate Chris van Vuuren on sentencing Fouche.

The crimes were committed by issuing fraudulent cheques and by the unlawful use of credit and garage petrol cards.

Van Vuuren pleaded guilty to three theft and more than 70 fraud charges.

Should he commit more commercial crimes on his return from prison, Fouche would be severely punished as he would be a repeat offender.

He would then have to spend a long time in jail, which would be a combination of the new sentence and the five-year suspended sentence, said Van Vuuren, adding that fraud and theft cases were very prevalent in society.