Disgraced former Pretoria midwife Yolande Fouchee (48) has been found guilty of multiple crimes, including the culpable homicide of a nine-day-old infant, reports News24.
Fouchee, owner and former midwife at You and Me Midwife-led Maternity Care, who appeared in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) last week, was also found guilty of fraud, six counts of assault, five counts of assault involving a legal duty, and the employment of an unqualified person.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said that Fouchee operated as a midwife between 2019 and 2020, conducting pregnancy check-ups and assisting women during childbirth at her practice in Pretoria, but routinely overlooked pregnancy complications and failed to refer patients to appropriate specialists.
The court also heard that she falsely assured expectant mothers that she was capable of handling normal to low-risk births.
NPA spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said that during labour, Fouchee had secretly administered water mixed with Cytotec or Oxytocin to induce or augment labour without the mother’s knowledge or consent.
One case involved a mother whose labour was induced by Fouchee on 3 April 2019. Although the baby was born, complications overlooked by the midwife led to the infant’s death nine days later, with the mother later being among a group of other victims to report Fouchee to the South African Nursing Council in 2020.
Criminal charges were subsequently filed at, leading to her arrest on 24 June 2024.
Mahanjana said that despite pleading not guilty to all charges, Fouchee was convicted after prosecutor Advocate Jennifer Cronje presented compelling evidence.
She said testimonies from Fouchee’s daughter, the victims and expert witnesses, including Professors Priya Soma-Pillay and Izelle Smuts from Steve Biko Academic Hospital, were instrumental in proving the case beyond a reasonable doubt.
The matter was postponed to 25 May for sentencing.
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