The Centre for Child Law says recent developments in the Zephany Nurse story, highlights the need for better protection for children who are victims of crime.
Representatives from the Centre accompanied Nurse to the Gauteng High Court on Tuesday to lift the ban on revealing her name, as the now 22-year-old Miche Solomons prepares to publish a tell-all book.
She was just three days old when she was snatched from her mother's hospital bedside on April 30, 1997 after she was born to Morne and Celeste Nurse on April 28.
The Nurse's 17 year search for their missing daughter finally ended in 2015 when their younger biological daughter started high school at the same school as her.
Subsequent investigations and DNA tests revealed that Zephany, who was in matric at the time, was indeed the missing child.
The Lavender Hill woman whom she had known as her mother was arrested and in 2016 was jailed for ten years.
At the time the woman's name was not revealed to protect the child’s identity.
But, In an affidavit filed at the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday, Solomons said that her position had changed and was "fundamentally different" to what it had been when the original order had been made.
Child Law Centre coordinator, Zita Hansungule says they had assisted the young woman in applying for the original court order after news of her kidnapping broke in 2015.
She said Solomons identity was not automatically protected as she was not a witness in the case.
She says this flaw in the criminal justice system must urgently be fixed.
(Jacaranda FM)
(Pic: Facebook)
