eMbalenhle woman gets 15 years for snatching newborn
Phindile Latha pretended to be pregnant and then stole a newborn to present to her boyfriend as his son.
The Evander Regional Court sentenced a baby snatcher to 15 years on March 16.
Magistrate Charmaine la Marque sentenced Phindile Latha (43) to his term, of which five years were suspended.
Latha will effectively serve 10 years behind bars for human trafficking.
Before delivering the sentence, La Marque asked Latha to acknowledge the prosecutor’s presentation as the one she, her attorney and the National Prosecuting Authority had agreed upon.
The magistrate said this type of offence carries a sentence of life imprisonment.
“I look at the sentence agreed upon, and I am considering it, but what is important is how you pleaded. I also have to consider the community’s feelings and those of the victim.”
La Marque said it counted in Latha’s favour that she was not part of a child kidnapping syndicate. Latha cried in the docks during her sentencing.
“I am watching you wipe tears away from your eyes, but that doesn’t bother me. Even if you protected the child from mosquitos by dressing him, I imagine what the child’s mother felt at the time.
“I ask myself, when did the times change that a person can just take someone else’s baby? It is shocking because we read daily in the newspapers of children and adults going missing. You decided to take someone’s newborn,” said La Marque.
She warned Latha that she must not be found guilty of a similar offence.
Latha was arrested in November 2021 for the kidnapping of a newborn.
The court heard that Latha introduced herself as Promise to the infant’s mother when they first met at the Ext 4 clinic in eMbalenhle.
Latha pretended to be a clinic nurse from Secunda. The name tag she was wearing had Thandeka Lephoto written on it.
Latha promised to help the 19-year-old mother with baby food and diapers.
She claimed to be looking for more women who had just given birth to give them necessities like nappies, food and clothes.
In October 2021, Latha went to the young mother’s home and told the grandmother that she wanted to take the mother and baby to the shop but her car had a flat tyre.
She convinced the young mom to go with her to the taxi rank and to take the baby along.
When they reached the taxi rank, Latha sent the young woman to buy chips. In the meantime, she disappeared with the child.
The court also heard that after abducting the baby, Latha, who had been pretending to be pregnant, informed her boyfriend’s family that she had given birth.
Her boyfriend’s sister insisted on collecting Latha and the newborn from Evander Hospital.
At the hospital, the sister saw Latha approaching while holding a baby. The sister asked Latha why she was not walking like someone who had just given birth. Latha responded that she only received two stitches.
She had a baby clinic card and her identity document in her hand.
The boyfriend’s sister took the baby to their mother, and the granny was told the baby was her grandson.
The police gathered information which led them to a house in Ext 5, eMbalenhle, where they found and arrested Latha.
The court also heard that Latha fought with the police before her arrest. The parents of the baby were present when Latha was sentenced.
They told Ridge Times they were happy justice was served and they welcomed the judgement because it would be a lesson to others.
The investigating officer in the case, Sergeant Palesa Monagane from the Secunda Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit, also welcomed the sentence.
Latha was sentenced according to Section 105A of the Criminal Procedure Act of 2001, which permits an accused person, who has a legal representative, to enter into a deal to plead guilty coupled with a sentence agreement.
