‘I wanted to kill myself when they took my baby’

A Durban woman told the court how difficult it was to cope after the baby she thought she had adopted was taken away by police.

Durban - A Durban woman on Thursday told the Pinetown Regional Court how difficult it was to cope after the baby she thought she had adopted was taken away by the police.

Catherine Ramlatchman met the baby’s biological mother in court and asked her if they could put aside what had happened and be friends. She also asked the baby’s mother if she could see the little boy she had cared for as her own for five months.

“It has been very hard to cope. Last year I wanted to kill myself. Through Jesus I managed to pull myself together and am here today,” Ramlatchman testified, as she wiped away her tears.

It is alleged the six-month-old baby was kidnapped in October 2014 from his biological mother, and then “sold” to the Ramlatchman couple, who thought the baby had been abandoned.

Tazley Msweli, 48, and Sibongile Ndimande, 41, have pleaded not guilty to the charges, which include human trafficking, kidnapping a minor, corruption and fraud.

During her emotional evidence in chief, Ramlatchman said she could not have children because of a medical condition.

Her domestic worker, Thembi Cele, had told her about her long-time friend, Msweli, who helped as a social worker at Addington Hospital. She testified that Msweli had worked with abandoned babies and tried to find them homes.

Ramlatchman became wary when the subject of money was mentioned. She was told the adoption process would cost R5 000, of which half was required upfront for administration purposes, with the rest of the money becoming due when the adoption papers were ready.

“I went on the internet to research the adoption process and the government website referred to the costs. This re-assured me,” Ramlatchman testified.

“I trusted Thembi. We were like friends,” she said.

She was present during all the telephonic conversations between Cele and Msweli about the arrangements.

She said she took Cele to Addington Hospital on October 28, 2014, to meet Msweli, and she had followed them inside. “When I saw Thembi and (Msweli) speaking to nurses at the hospital, I felt relief, knowing the baby was coming from Addington Hospital,” she said.

The next day, Cele, Ramlatchman and her husband waited for Msweli outside The Wheel shopping centre. This was when she saw Ndimande for the first time.

Cele met the women and the baby and the three of them got into Ramlatchman’s car. She said she had given Cele the R2 500 beforehand to give to Msweli.

Inside the car, Thembi carried the baby and showed Ramlatchman his face. Breaking down in court, Ramlatchman said she instantly fell in love with him.

“The state he was in, I can’t talk about,” she said.

Once the baby was handed over to her, she said all her attention was on him, and not the transaction between the women.

She said the baby looked like he was abandoned. His blanket, hair, legs and hands were dirty and his clothes did not fit. He was undernourished, did not cry, was very lifeless, she said.

“My husband and I spoke about whether we would take a sickly child home, and decided that we would love him, no matter what.”

They only received his medical health book when her husband and Cele met the women to give them a portable air conditioner as balance of payment.

She said the little boy was very sickly, but under her care he flourished, put on weight and met his milestones.

Ramlatchman was arrested on March 3, 2015.

“I would never have taken a kidnapped child. I kept asking Thembi if anyone was crying over the baby.”

She told the court she had met the baby’s biological mother and apologised to her and asked if they could move on as friends.

Under cross-examination, Msweli’s lawyer suggested Cele had told Ramlatchman a fake story about the baby being adopted, and that Msweli was told by the baby’s mother to deliver the infant to Cele.

Ramlatchman said Msweli had told her over the telephone that the baby was abandoned at Addington Hospital.

Ndimande had denied getting into the Ramlatchmans’ car, and alleged she was only there to accompany Msweli, as she requested.

The trial continues in September.

noelene.barbeau@inl.co.za

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