The now retired detective who arrested Lavona Solomon for the 1997 kidnapping of newborn baby Zephany Nurse from a Cape Town hospital believes she got off lightly.
Solomon was released from prison on strict parole conditions on Friday. Lt Mike Barkhuizen worked round the clock to secure Solomon's conviction.
Cape Town high court judge president John Hlophe in 2016 sentenced Solomon, 59, to 14 years in prison for kidnapping. Hlophe suspended four years of the sentence on condition she did not commit a similar offence.
The Lavender Hill seamstress abducted three-day-old Zephany, who grew up under the name Miché Solomon, from a ward at Groote Schuur Hospital on April 30 1997 while her mother was asleep.
Zephany's biological parents, Celeste and Morne Nurse, searched for their daughter for 17 years. The search ended after the couple's younger daughter was enrolled at Zephany’s school and her uncanny resemblance revealed Solomon's secret.
Solomon was arrested on February 25 2015. She told the court someone delivered the baby to her at Wynberg train station, claiming she legally adopted the child through a process arranged by a woman she called Sylvia. Solomon also played the victim in the saga, claiming her only crime was raising Zephany.
Correctional services spokesperson Candice van Reenen said Solomon will be subjected to “high-risk monitoring” on parole. Her movement will be “restricted to the magisterial district, [she] may not leave without permission”. Van Reenen said Solomon is not allowed to change address without permission, is prohibited from using alcohol or drugs, must not commit a crime and “may not engage the media”.
“The head of community corrections [may also supplement/amend the ... conditions according to the offender’s risk profile,” said Van Reenen.
Barkhuizen, who has since retired, recalled the sleepless nights he had while investigating the case. He described the 17-year search as a rollercoaster for the Nurses.
“I only got involved about five years before we solved the case,” he said.
“Someone phoned the father one night and tried to extort money from him. It turned out it was his mother-in-law’s neighbour. The mother told the story to this lady and she thought she could make a quick buck. She phoned him in the middle of the night. Later, when we identified her, she alleged that she was drunk. She was convicted of attempted extortion.”
Barkhuizen said the Nurses phoned constantly, urging him to follow various leads. He tried everything possible, including contacting schools to check if they had a child enrolled fitting Zephany’s description.
“You will be shocked to learn how many children go missing and are never recovered again,” he told TimesLIVE Premium.
“What led to solving the case is that the sister was at Zwaanswyk High School. Children at school started joking saying, ‘You two could be sisters, you look like one another.’ And she mentioned it to her father and he looked into it and we followed up. Fortunately, the headmaster was very accommodating. Each child has a file with a picture at the school. He said, ‘I am not allowed to show you this file, but I will leave it open and go to the toilet.’”
Barkhuizen said Solomon had stated, in the file, that the child was born at a mobile obstetrics hospital in Retreat.
“The nurses were shocked that the child was still missing and allowed me to go through the ‘birth book’. The birth register was completed every time a child was born and there was no record of this child,” he said.
“Then we knew that Lavona had lied. That was our moment in the case. She had something to hide and we knew that this was our child.”
Barkhuizen said his team approached the director of public prosecution and an advocate was assigned to advise them.
“We got the department of social development on board, and on the morning of the recovery we went to two places simultaneously,” he said.
“I went to arrest her at her home and I had a team that went to the school with social workers to go and collect her [Zephany] and gently say, ‘We think you are this missing child.’ We had done a lot of work in this case, even if I have to compliment myself. We had already obtained blood samples from the mother and the father, but the police told us it would take six weeks to get the results.
“And then we found out from one of the ladies there was a private laboratory that operated from Tygerberg Hospital and the laboratory said, ‘We can do this within 24 hours for you.’
“The district surgeon got the sample from the child and one of the social workers took her home that evening. The next morning the guys from the laboratory called me and said, ‘This is your child, the DNA matched.’”
Barkhuizen said the test cost the state about “R3,000 and we had to apply for authorisation and police wouldn’t do it for any other case, but my superior at the time said there is no other way, we can do this.”
“The next day we contacted the biological parents and we got together and had a reunion,” he said.
“Everybody was in tears. That was it, case solved. One thing always struck me. Whenever I interacted with the family, the mother always said, ‘Barkhuizen, I am praying for you every night and I believe you will find my child.’ It was something that always haunted me. Every time I left there, I felt guilty. I asked myself, ‘How am I going to get this child?’ She had so much faith in me.”
Barkhuizen believes Solomon should “have gone to prison for longer”.
“If you look at all the anguish these poor parents have gone through, I would not wish this on anyone,” he said.
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