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Zephany Nurse Baby-snatcher Jailed In South Africa by wezzyjasified(m): 2:25pm On Aug 15, 2016 |
A South African court has jailed a woman for 10
years for kidnapping a baby from her hospital
bed 19 years ago and raising her as her own.
The 51-year-old woman was arrested in 2015
after people noticed an uncanny resemblance
between the girl, Zephany Nurse, and another
girl at school.
DNA tests carried out by police then proved that
the two girls were sisters.
Judge John Hlophe told the defendant she had
"betrayed" Zephany by her actions.
No winners in tragic case
Africa Live: More updates on this and other
African stories
The kidnapped girl's biological parents, Celeste
and Morne Nurse, called her Zephany, but the
name she grew up with has not been revealed to
protect her identity.
The convicted woman has also not been named
for similar reasons.
Local media have previously reported that
Zephany does not wish to have a relationship
with her biological parents and considers the
woman who kidnapped her as her mother.
She has decided to continue living with her
abductor's husband, whom she grew up believing
to be her father.
Outside the court, Zephany's biological
grandmother Marilyn said she was not happy
with the length of the sentence, but hoped that
the family would now have a chance to bond
and form a relationship with Zephany.
The judge told the accused she had had "all the
time in the world" to return the child but had
chosen not to.
Annual local media coverage of the parents'
birthday celebrations for their missing baby
daughter meant that there was no way the
defendant could not have known they were still
looking for her, he said.
He also said her decision to plead not guilty and
portray herself as a victim in the affair counted
against her.
Bittersweet victory: Pumza Fihlani, BBC News,
South Africa
It is a story that has gripped South Africa, but
now finally has some form of closure.
The 52-year old woman convicted of kidnapping
Zephany Nurse watched stone-faced as the
judge handed down his sentence.
Members of the Nurse family and the family of
the accused packed the Cape Town courthouse.
Delivering his ruling, Judge Hlope criticised the
woman for lying to the court during the trial.
He dismissed as "a fairytale" her claim that the
baby girl had been handed to her by another
woman at a railway station.
The soft-spoken seamstress raised Zephany as
her own, just a few kilometres from the home of
her biological parents.
The Nurse family's victory in court is
bittersweet.
The woman responsible for Zephany's kidnap
may be behind bars, but their daughter has
decided to continue living with the husband of
the woman who kidnapped her. source : www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-37082263 cc: lalasticlala |
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