World finally gets to meet Miche Solomon
MICHE Solomon, the girl born as Zephany Nurse, can finally show the world her name and face, after the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria granted her the right to reveal her identity.
Zephany was just three days old when she was kidnapped from her mother’s bedside at Groote Schuur Hospital on April 30, 1997. The infant had been born via Caesarean section to Morné and Celeste Nurse on April 28.
The Nurses’ 17-year search for their missing daughter finally ended in 2015 when their younger daughter started at the same high school as Zephany.
Classmates remarked on the sisters’ striking resemblance, and when the younger sister told her father, he contacted the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks).
DNA tests revealed that Zephany, then in matric, was their missing child.
The Lavender Hill woman who raised her was arrested, and in 2016 was sentenced to 10 years behind bars.
The woman’s identity could not be revealed at the time to protect the identity she had given Zephany.
Her story caused a media frenzy when she was reunited with her biological parents, but as she was still under 18 at the time, the court ordered that the identity given to her by her abductor be protected.
The Centre for Child Law spearheaded the litigation to obtain an interdict, and the centre’s Ann Skelton said at the time, the court order was aimed at protecting the child known as Zephany.
The centre also wanted to see legislation changed that would see the identities of other minors in criminal proceedings protected, even after they turn 18.
Years later, and with the initial trauma of confronting her true identity behind her, she filed an affidavit at the Pretoria High Court that said that her position had changed and was “fundamentally different” from when the original order had been made.
She was successful in her bid to have the ban lifted, and intends publishing a book detailing her life story. The book is due to be published soon.
In an affidavit, Zephany said she agreed to have her story published after careful consideration. |