Baby stolen in South Africa 17 years ago found

Baby stolen in South Africa 17 years ago found

A baby stolen from her sleeping mother’s arms shortly after birth has been found
by the family through an astonishing coincidence 17 years later, her biological
family and South African police said Friday.
A 50-year-old woman has been arrested and charged with kidnapping after pupils
noticed a remarkable likeness between the 17-year-old and her younger biological
sister who started attending the same school this year.
DNA tests have confirmed that the older girl is the daughter of Celeste and Morne
Nurse, who was snatched from Groote Schuur hospital as a three-day-old baby
named Zephany in April 1997, local media reported.
The parents, who later had three more children, have celebrated Zephany’s
birthday every year since she was kidnapped, never giving up hope that their first-
born would come back to them one day, her father Morne said.
Zephany grew up with a different name in a different family.
But last month her biological sister, Cassidy Nurse, started high school at the
same school as Zephany, and fellow pupils noticed the startling resemblance she
bore to a final-year student.
When Cassidy told her parents about the girl, the father approached Zephany at
the school. When he saw the striking resemblance between the girls, he
contacted the police.
Without knowing it, the Nurse family had been living within a couple of kilometres
of their kidnapped daughter.
“All the time she has been right under my nose,” the father told South Africa’s
Talk radio 702. “It was seriously heartbreaking”.
“She told me that her hangout at weekends was mainly the place where we went
to, which was shocking”.
“Emotions are running very high in my family, it’s actually good emotions,” said
Nurse.
Police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel André Traut confirmed that a woman had
been arrested. She and her husband, who is also in his fifties, have no other
children.
“The suspect is being charged with kidnapping, fraud and contravening sections…
of the Children’s Act, in that she fraudulently pretended that she was the
biological mother of a child,” Traut said.
“The kidnapped girl has since been placed in the care of the Department of Social
Services of the Western Cape Government.”
On how Zephany has reacted on discovering her biological family, Nurse said “she
is actually very happy about it, at the same time highly disappointed in the family
(that has raised her)”