Pretoria - The Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, intervened in a bizarre case of possible mistaken identity when a newborn boy was buried after the hospital had told his parents he had died.
However, it subsequently emerged that it could be a case of mistaken identity.
The baby’s mother, only identified as ZR due to the sensitivity of the case, obtained an urgent order that the body of a child buried on May8 in the bay section of the Crystal Park Cemetery in Benoni be exhumed.
The police must conduct DNA tests on the body to establish whether it is the applicant’s child.
The application was sparked by a WhatsApp voice note which the baby’s mother received two days after she had buried her son.
A woman told her that the wrong baby was buried and that her son was alive and placed in an “isolation ward with other kids” in the hospital where he was born.
The mother said soon after her son was born, the hospital told her he had died. She said the body was released “very quickly and without any protocol”.
She said she was also not supplied with a “B1 form” filled in by a doctor and no death certificate was issued.
Before the burial on May 8, the body was washed and dressed by the grandmother.
The court was told the grandmother raised concern that the baby did not look like her grandson.
The applicant said her family decided the baby had to be buried, although she was against it from the start.
When she received the WhatsApp call from the other mother, she went to Springs police station to open a missing person’s case. The police went to the hospital to investigate.
“The nurses on duty were hostile and unwelcoming,” she said.
The police were able to establish that the body of the child that was given to the mother did not wear a name tag as a form of identity.
A doctor on duty then suggested that due to the uncertainty regarding the identity of the buried baby, it should be exhumed and DNA tests done.
The mother told the judge the nurses were not keen on DNA tests and apparently “vehemently objected” to the doctor’s suggestion that the body be exhumed.
She said while the baby’s medical records were later handed to the police, the nurses tried to convince her to withdraw the case, but she refused. She tried to explain to the doctor that the body handed to her showed signs of an insertion in the belly, but that her child did not have such insertion the last time she had seen him.
The doctor, however, could not explain this as he did not treat the baby.
The nurses in turn said that when the baby died, they had reported the matter to the police.
The mother, however, said that there is no record from the police.
Acting Judge George Avvakoumides, meanwhile, commented that even if the DNA results show the baby is that of the applicant, it will bring closure to her, and despite this trauma she would be able to continue with her life.
“The current position is untenable, given the allegations,” he said.
He ordered that if the DNA tests showed that the baby was not the son of the applicant, the police must immediately investigate and try to locate the applicant’s child.
“If it emerges that an anonymous baby was buried, the police were ordered to also investigate the circumstances surrounding the death.
The judge further ordered that a copy of this judgment be delivered to the National Prosecuting Authority.
Pretoria News