Celeste Nurse remembers drifting in and out of sleep in Groote Schuur Hospital after delivering her first child via Caesarean section.
Three days after her daughter, Zephany, was born, a heavily medicated Nurse again woke up groggily and saw a woman dressed as a nurse sitting next to her baby’s cot.
“I fell asleep again and when I woke up there was a nurse saying my child is gone. You can’t imagine the feeling,” Nurse said.
Her daughter had not been seen since that day, April 30, 1997, when she was abducted from Groote Schuur Hospital.
Despite extensive searches and investigations over the years, it was still not clear what happened to Zephany or who the woman was that entered Nurse’s hospital room.
“Back then, there was no security at the hospital. I don’t even think there was a security guard on duty that day,” Nurse said.
But over the years, security at the hospital had improved.
Now a mother of three children, aged four, five and 10 years, Nurse said she was happy to hear public hospitals were still boosting security measures.
“It could prevent someone else from experiencing our ordeal. It’s been 14 years since Zephany went missing and in that time, other babies have disappeared from hospitals - places (where) we should feel secure,” she said.
Nurse said not a day went by without her thinking about her missing daughter and she believed Zephany was still alive. “I just hope one day someone will realise something or see something and bring her back to us,” she said. - Cape Times