Saga of Baby Kidnapped 18 Years Ago Plays Out in Cape Town Court

The woman accused of kidnapping Zephany Nurse from Groote Schuur 18 years ago – before the child was reunited with her real parents in a bizarre twist of fate – has told a Cape Town court she was “given” the baby, according to news reports.

The alleged kidnapper, identified only as a 51-year-old woman from Lavendar Hill, is appearing in the Western Cape High Court in a case expected to last a week. She has pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, fraud and contravening sections of the Children’s Act.

Zephany Joy Nurse was stolen from Groote Schuur hospital in 1997. Her mother, Celeste Nurse, told the court that she was sleeping under medication in a bed closest to the ward door with her baby in a cot next to the door when she woke groggily to hear the girl crying.

“I saw a person sitting at the door” dressed as a nurse, she said. The woman asked if she could pick up the child and Nurse said she could.

Nurse reportedly told the court, “That’s all I can remember until a nurse woke me and asked where the baby was. I asked ‘what do you mean, the nurse was just here with the baby’. We ran everywhere in the hospital. The baby was nowhere to be found. Missing. Gone.”

Last year, Nurse’s other daughter was told by students at her new school that there was a girl in a higher grade who looked just like her. The older girl met Celeste and Morne Nurse -the couple had three more children but separated in 2014 – and they were immediately convinced she was their long-lost baby. They called the police, and DNA tests confirmed that the girl was indeed Zephany.

The alleged kidnapper has said that she was “handed a baby” by a woman at a train station in Wynberg on April 30, 1997 – the same day Zephany was snatched from her cot.

The woman, who faces a minimum of five years in jail if found guilty of kidnapping, reportedly said she was seeking medical attention for her infertility problems at the time, after several miscarriages.

Zephany has not appeared in court and a court order has ensured her identity has been kept secret.