Pretoria East midwife Yolande Maritz Fouchee will spend 23 years behind bars for her negligent practices that led to the tragic deaths and disabilities of several infants, reports IOL News.
As Judge Papi Mosopa delivered his judgment in the Gauteng High Court last week, several mothers whose children suffered fates varying from death to being disabled after being born at Fouchee’s clinic hugged each other in tears, and thanked prosecutor Jennifer Cronje afterwards for bringing Fouchee to justice.
Two mothers opted not to bring charges against Fouchee as they were not prepared to face the further trauma of a trial.
Between 2019 and 2020, Fouchee, who had run pregnancy check-ups for pregnant women and assisted them to give birth at her practice, had overlooked pregnancy complications but did not refer her patients to the appropriate specialists. She told her clients she was capable of performing normal to low-risk birthing.
She would offer the pregnant women water mixed with Cytotec or Oxytocin to induce and augment their labour without their knowledge.
Throughout her trial, Fouchee maintained her innocence, saying her services were professional.
But Judge Mosopa, who sat with an assessor who is a medical doctor, rejected this, saying she showed no remorse for what she had done. He sentenced her on each of the 14 counts on which she was convicted, which ran into a total of 66 years’ imprisonment.
He ordered that she had to effectively serve 23 years.
Fouchee’s negligent actions caused the death of the Von Kloeg baby, for which she was convicted of culpable homicide and led to three other babies being born with cerebral palsy. Although another baby also died, she could not be charged with culpable homicide as the baby was stillborn.
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