Mother of abandoned baby in Roosevelt Park has bail hopes dashed as case postponed again
With no reasons provided, woman who handed herself in languishes in Johannesburg jail for another week
Progress is slow at the magistrate’s court for the mother who tried to safely abandon her baby in Roosevelt Park and subsequently handed herself in to the Sophiatown Police Station.
The most recent postponement was due to her docket not being in court resulting in another seven-day delay for her bail hearing.
The paper attended court but was unable to ascertain why the docket was not present for the bail hearing.
The mother, Faith (not her real name), was distressed when she heard she would be returning to prison for another week without being given any feedback on why. Her appearance lasted mere moments before the seven-day postponement was announced by the magistrate with no legal representative for Faith in attendance.
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Her aunt has been in attendance for all three of her appearances, and now her mother who has travelled to Johannesburg to support her daughter. Both lose much-needed income when coming to court as they cannot work that day.
Co-founder of Baby Savers SA Dr Whitney Rosenberg said, “So many people do not know their rights, nor that they are allowed to insist that their legal aid representative be in court to advocate for them. This, as in this case, often leads to unnecessary delays and injustices to occur.”
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