Snatching of Zephany: State outlines case in court
THE INDICTMENT detailing the State’s case against a Lavender Hill woman accused of kidnapping a newborn baby 18 years ago was revealed in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
The woman, whose identity is being withheld in terms of a court order to protect the teen’s new identity, was dressed in black and looked down throughout the brief court proceedings. She never once glanced back at the packed public court gallery where many of Zephany Nurse’s family were seated.
Zephany was born on April 28, 1997 by caesarean section at the Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town.
According to the indictment, on April 30, 1997, the accused befriended Celeste Nurse, the newborn baby’s mother, and “convinced her to hand over her daughter so that she could sleep”.
Staff later woke Celeste to inform her that her baby daughter was missing.
Despite a nationwide search, Zephany was found nearly 18 years later after a chance encounter with her biological sister at the school they both attend in Cape Town.
The indictment further states that on March 3, 2003 the accused took the child to Malmesbury, where “she falsely presented Zephany to all as her daughter”.
She allegedly took her to the Department of Home Affairs in Malmesbury where Wilma Hofmeyr was working as an official and where she registered the birth as that of her own child.
Magistrate Joe Magele postponed the case to November 27 for a high court pre-trial hearing. – ANA