The woman convicted of kidnapping Zephany Nurse has allegedly been robbed and assaulted by fellow inmates in Pollsmoor Prison.
|||Cape Town - The woman convicted of kidnapping Zephany Nurse has allegedly been assaulted by fellow inmates in Pollsmoor prison “because she gets special treatment”.
A relative of the 51-year-old woman says she was so badly beaten that several of her ribs are broken.
The young man said female inmates cornered the woman and assaulted her because she had been getting home-cooked meals from her husband and daughter Zephany since she was incarcerated in the notorious prison.
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“They attacked her and hit her till her ribs cracked and bruised,” said the shocked relative, who can’t be identified in order to comply with a court ruling ordering Zephany’s real identity to be kept secret.
The kidnapper is diabetic and has to eat special food, which members of her family deliver at the jail every day.
The man says last week jealous inmates, who have to be satisfied with prison food, wanted to take the woman’s food, but she refused. That’s when they robbed her and assaulted her.
The relative said: “I can’t believe people can be so cruel. She needs to eat certain things to remain healthy. She was beaten until another inmate helped her.”
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The Daily Voice contacted the woman’s husband on Tuesday, who did not confirm or deny the incident.
“I really have nothing to say about the incident and would rather not discuss my wife’s well-being, thank you,” the man said.
The relative said the woman, a former housewife who dedicated her life to raising Zephany, has been having a tough time in jail.
“After the attack, she was taken to the infirmary and seen to there, but she is not coping. We pray for her all the time,” he said.
The woman’s lawyer Reaz Khan confirmed his client was injured last week, but denies she was attacked by inmates.
“She slipped and fell in water and she is fine. I went to see her afterwards. She is doing fine and has no broken bones,” he says.
Department of Correctional Services’ Manelisi Wolela confirmed that he received our query, and promised to respond. However, by Tuesday night he had failed to respond to phone calls, emails and SMSes.
On March 10, the woman was convicted in the Western Cape High Court of kidnapping newborn Zephany from hospital in 1997.
She will be sentenced on May 30.
Daily Voice