Earlier, Western Cape High Court Judge John Hlophe found the 51-year-old Lavender Hill woman guilty of kidnapping, fraud, and contravening the Children’s Act. Her bail was revoked.

Hlophe described her version of events as a “fairytale”, saying the evidence was overwhelming that she kidnapped the three-day-old infant while her mother slept 19 years ago.

The woman’s lawyer Raez Khan asked that her bail be extended as she suffered from a number of illnesses and heart ailments.

Prosecutor Evadne Kortje countered that she was a convicted offender, which elicited murmurs of agreement from the gallery.

“In this case, listening to the judgment… releasing her will not be in the interest of the administration of justice,” she said.

Hlophe agreed, saying the accused had been found guilty of three serious charges.She would be taken to Pollsmoor Prison until her sentencing on 30 May.She maintained throughout her testimony that she got the baby from a woman called Sylvia, who had been giving her fertility treatment in 1997 after she had a miscarriage.Sylvia arranged for the baby to be handed to her at the Wynberg train station without her prior knowledge, the accused testified. She said she was surprised because she had expected to meet to discuss the adoption process.She said Sylvia claimed to know of a woman who did not want to keep her baby because the pregnancy was unplanned. The accused testified that the woman had said the paperwork would be arranged later. She had signed documents including an “adoption application”.She claimed to have never heard from Sylvia again. Six years later she received a birth certificate by post with the name she chose for the baby.Hlophe found her evidence “astonishing”. She could have told police the truth, but instead maintained that she was the child’s biological mother, he said.

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