A woman who fled Namibia after she allegedly stole N$2.8 million from a private school where she was working appeared in the Windhoek Magistrate's Court today following her extradition from South Africa.

Fugitive Maria Coetzee landed at the Hosea Kutako International Airport after her extradition from South Africa, where she has been hiding for the past four years. 

She was charged with 18 counts of fraud, alternatively 18 counts of theft, and a charge of money laundering before she failed to appear in the Windhoek High Court for a pretrial hearing in May of 2020.

Coetzee, who was free on bail of N$10,000, was later traced to Pretoria, South Africa, after she left Namibia.