In 1997, at the age of 18, Celeste Nurse woke up in a Cape Town maternity ward to discover that her newborn had disappeared. She had dozed off while holding her baby against her chest. A woman posing as a nurse had abducted the infant.
The Nurses continued to celebrate their daughter’s birthday without her for 20 years because they had never given up hope of finding her.
An unexpected connection at school
A miraculous event occurred in 2015. The Nurses met a new friend named Zephany through Celeste Nurse’s second child.
Zephany bore a striking resemblance to their missing daughter and even shared the same birthdate.
The revelation shocked the Nurse family so much that they contacted the police and requested a DNA analysis.
The DNA analysis confirmed that Zephany was their long-lost child.
“DNA doesn’t lie. The results confirmed what we felt in our hearts,” said Celeste Nurse.
“When the police questioned Miché Solomon (then known as Zephany Nurse) for the first time, she was bewildered. Social workers at the Retreat hospital found that despite what her birth certificate claimed, there was no record proving she was born there.
Miché’s world crumbled when the DNA results were confirmed.
The woman Miché had always thought was her mother, Lavona Solomon, was arrested and charged with kidnapping and fraud.
Throughout the trial, Lavona maintained her innocence. She claimed that Sylvia, a woman, had given her the baby, but there was never any evidence of that.
She was eventually sentenced to ten years in prison for kidnapping, fraud, and violations of child law.
“When the gavel fell, it was as if my life shattered into pieces,” recalls Miché.”
Social workers accompanied Miché to meet her biological parents at the police station. The Nurses were overjoyed, but Miché couldn’t help but feel uneasy.
Her cultural family was falling apart, but her biological family, whom she had never met, was ready to step in and fill the void.
“Two families, both claiming me as theirs. It was a mental and emotional battleground,” said Miché.
After her biological parents’ divorce and feeling uncomfortable living with either of them, Miché returned to live with Michael Solomon, whom she considers her father.