Judge Hlophe unimpressed by alleged Zephany kidnapper - 'I listened to her lies for days'

Judge John Hlophe has questioned the evidence of a woman accused of snatching baby Zephany Nurse 19 years ago, saying in the Western Cape High Court on Wednesday that no one would believe her claims.

“I listened to her lies for days,” he told Reaz Khan for the defense during closing arguments.

“She was consistent. She bought the baby for R3,000 and paid a deposit of R800, but with no receipt. Who can believe that?”

Hlophe appeared unconvinced by the accused’s version that she got the baby from a woman called Sylvia, who she said had been giving her fertility treatment in 1997 after she had miscarried.

Sylvia arranged for the baby to be handed to her at Wynberg station without her prior knowledge, the accused claimed.

She said she was surprised because she had expected to meet to discuss the adoption process.

Sylvia claimed she knew of a woman who did not want to keep her baby because the pregnancy was unplanned.

The accused testified the woman said the paperwork would be arranged later and she had signed documents including an “adoption application”.

She claimed to have never heard from Sylvia again.

The accused said that six years later she received a birth certificate by post with the name she chose for the baby.

Hlophe, however, said the woman had not given any credible evidence as to how she obtained Zephany.

“She paid R3,000 for a baby,” he said, referring to the price Sylvia charged for her fertility treatment.

Morne Nurse, Zephany’s biological father, previously testified he collected evidence for a month after he met the teenager, when his daughter told him a girl at her school bore a striking resemblance to her.

After collecting his daughter Cassidy and the then 17-year-old from school in January 2015, he took the two friends to lunch, where she told him her date of birth – April 30, 1997. This was the date his daughter was abducted.

When he told her she did not look like her parents and looked just like him and his daughter, she burst out laughing.

He backed off as he did not want to scare her, but "scrutinised" her Facebook account and printed photos of her as she had grown up.

Nurse said he sent a photo of the girl and her mother to witness Shireen Piet, who claimed to have seen the suspected abductor on the day Zephany was snatched from her sleeping mother.

When he asked Piet if she recognised the woman, Piet said she did.

DNA tests later confirmed the teenager was Zephany.

Source: News24