Sentenced in New Zealand

Lyndell du Toit (31) was sentenced in Christchurch, New Zealand to six months in jail for stealing over $20,000 in donations from her nine-year-old daughter's trust fund. She has paid $11,700 in reparations. She is appealing her sentence. The family needed $50,000 to help pay for Charley's specialist treatment after her foot was bitten off by her grandmother's bull terrier in Kempton Park in 2004. The foot was re-attached and needs expensive surgery to fully mend. The mother of three mis-used the public's donations. Lyndell and her children moved to New Zealand in September 2006 to live with her boyfriend Eric Minty. Lyndell's former husband, Wayne du Toit, of Pretoria, wants custody of his three children - Charley, David (6) and Klayton (4) - four so they could return to South Africa. The children are staying with Eric, while their mother is in jail. Lyndell will serve her time and then be deported to South Africa under a removal order.