Woman bags 10 years sentence for kidnapping newborn baby

A South African court Monday handed down a 10-year prison term to a woman who kidnapped a newborn baby from her sleeping mother in hospital 19 years ago, local media reported.

In passing the sentence, a judge in the High Court in Cape Town emphasised the seriousness of the crime by the 52-year-old woman, News24 said.

The kidnapping victim, who her family named Zephany Nurse, was taken from a maternity ward at Groote Schuur Hospital in 1997. Her kidnapper raised her as her own.

The girl’s real identity came to light in February 2015, when her younger biological sister began attending high school and pupils pointed out her remarkable likeness to a final-year student.

The younger girl told her parents, who met the older girl and immediately thought she could be their long-lost child.

The judge said the crime was premeditated and too serious not to warrant a jail sentence.

Zephany, who is now said be pregnant, was raised under a different name and has shunned the media spotlight on the case.