While the Toekomsrus “baby thief” and murder accused Innocentia Loretta Cook is awaiting judgement, Thursday marked baby Hope Mercy’s birthday.
Cook allegedly cut baby Hope from her mother’s womb in 2012. The murder of the baby’s mother, Valencia Behrens, has left the family with wounds that they thought would not heal.
At the time the herald reported that the late Behrens was lured to Cook’s house where her abdomen was sliced open with a razor blade. The baby was ripped from her womb and left on the cold tiles while Behrens bled to death. Allegedly baby Hope’s umbilical cord was still intact when she was found.
Speaking to The Star newspaper, Behrens’s lover at the time and father of baby Hope, Joseph Pieterse said he was called to Cook’s house where he found Behrens on the floor.
He thought that she and the baby were dead but later learned that paramedics had taken baby Hope to hospital where she recovered for two weeks.
“The baby was named Mercy because God had spared her life. The name Hope was chosen because although her mother was murdered brutally, God had given them hope,” Pieterse told The Star.
“I was numb. I would look into her eyes searching for answers, asking why anyone would hurt her and her mother.”
Hope and her four siblings are being cared for by their father (Pieterse) and their grandmother at their home in Toekomsrus.
Watch this space as the story develops.
