The Nurse family were tight-lipped yesterday on the eve of the sentencing of a woman convicted of kidnapping their eldest child Zephany.
Yesterday, when the Daily Voice contacted Morné and Celeste Nurse, who are divorced, they declined to comment on the sentencing procedures.
Celeste said she was busy having a family get-together. “We have family over now, we are busy,” she said.
Meanwhile, Morné, who is sporting a beard these days, said he was in church, but wouldn’t take calls later in the day.
It seems the dad and his long-lost daughter have warmed to each other again, after a picture of Morne and a smiling Zephany was spotted on social media this month.
The 52-year-old Seawinds woman, who was convicted in March, faces 10 years in the tjoekie for each of the charges she was found guilty of, including kidnapping, fraud and contravening the children’s act.
Yesterday the kidnapper’s husband told the Daily Voice the family is calm about today’s court proceedings.
“We are OK, and we are not nervous about the proceedings.”
Asked how he felt about Zephany taking the stand against his wife, he said: “I’m not going to talk about that.”
Zephany’s legal representative Ann Skelton confirmed earlier this month that the 19-year-old will be taking the stand as a State witness, testifying in aggravation of sentence.
The kidnapper’s lawyer, Reaz Khan, said he was going to call Zephany up himself, but won’t be able to do so now.
It is not clear what the teen will say on the stand, but Khan was confident that it would be to his client’s advantage.
After her conviction in March, the Nurses said they were relieved at the court’s decision, and would see “justice run its course”.
Celeste had emphasised that as a Christian she had forgiven the accused but still wished for justice to prevail, while her mother Marilyn Francis said the family would be satisfied with a jail sentence.
The accused had apologised to the Nurse family over the pain they had suffered.
However, she maintained her innocence, claiming Zephany was given to her by someone called “Sylvia” at the Wynberg train station.
Zephany was just three days old in April 1997 when she was snatched from Groote Schuur Hospital while her mother slept .
Her true identity was discovered last year when the teen befriended her younger sister Cassidy at school.