Cook gets life imprisonment for friend’s murder
Behrens killed in a horrendous way - Judge
Toekomsrus resident Loretta Innocentia Cook, 32, was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of her friend Valencia Behrens.
The sentence was handed down in the South Gauteng High Court sitting in Palm Ridge on Friday.
Cook was found guilty of cutting open Behren’s stomach and ripping out her baby on 6 January 2012.
Judge Lucy Mailula found that Cook could’ve adopted a child but instead chose to lure a pregnant woman to her house and cut open her stomach to steal her baby.
Behrens succumbed to her injuries while her baby girl survived. The infant was found on the cold tiles of the house in a pool of blood with her umbilical cord still attached.
Judge Mailula described the killing as “horrendous”.
Cook faked her own pregnancy at the time and pleaded not guilty to the murder, claiming she did not remember the incident.Cook was not convicted for attempted murder of the baby known as Hope Mercy as the Judge said it was evident that she wanted to keep the baby alive.
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