Baby murder: Mother speaks out about fugitive daughter

“We want her to know that there is support, that she should come back and that we will help her,” Avril van der Ross, mother to fugitive Stacey-Lee van der Ross told the Record.

Stacey-Lee and her boyfriend, Junaid Adam-Shaik are currently on the run. They stand accused of severely harming their firstborn, Alaia since her birth on 11 May to her death on 12 October 2012. The belief is that Amanee, born December 2013, suffered the same fate in March the following year. They face two charges of murder, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm and child abuse, but disappeared off the grid days before their trial was due to start on 23 February in the Johannesburg High Court.

Vaccinations blamed for baby’s bad health

The Record interviewed Avril who said that rumours of vaccinations having affected the firstborn, Alaia badly, were true. This is what they told family and friends. A facebook page created by the couple, a blog post authored by Stacey-Lee and an article by VacTruth’s Christina England were discovered during the Record’s investigation, painting the picture that they set out to have the public believe vaccinations harmed their baby. The Record set out to contact England but without success to date.

“The vaccinations had a terrible effect on [Alaia] when she was four months old; I was staying with them at the time,” Avril told the Record.
“She got four injection that time, in the leg, and for a few days afterwards she  was in pain, you could not touch her.
“For a few days afterwards she was very sore; you could not touch her on the area of the vaccinations, it was too painful for her.
“I wil confirm that the vaccinations affected her badly, that four vaccinations were given all at once.”

Avril said she was aware of the fact that her daughter blogged about their sick baby nearly a year after she died. Stacey-Lee claimed she was falsely accused of shaking her child by a doctor. She spoke to the couple’s lawyer, who apparently told her that their forensic experts found no evidence suggesting child abuse.

“Why did these kids run after the lawyer assured them there is no medical evidence of abuse?
“For weeks and weeks my life has been about doing my own investigation, finding out as much as I can as to what would have made them run,” she told the Record.

Fugitive couple spotted in Durban

Avril believes that Junaid’s family is helping the couple financially.
“His family were the last to see them,” she said.
“I don’t have proof, but I say so because [Junaid’s brother] wouldn’t share information with me when we first started looking for Stacey before the court case.
“I realised something was wrong; it turned out they were in Durban at the time and that they left their vehicle with the brother.”
The couple allegedly bought another vehicle in Johannesburg and set out by taxi from Durban to fetch it.
“So the brother said, but I don’t know if my daughter got into a taxi,” Avril said.
She says she immediately reported Stacey-Lee missing with the Sophiatown Police.

Stacey-Lee allegedly abused by her partner

When the Record asked Avril how she felt about Junaid her immediate response was “I don’t like him”.
“He was very abusive towards my daughter from the time they were going out: After they got engaged, he started beating her,” she said.
“Stacey-Lee came home one day and said she can’t stand it anymore, she took off her clothes and showed us and said, ‘look how he’s beating me’.”
Avril spoke of a second cry for help late last year, before the trial, when Stacey-Lee sent her an SMS asking Avril to fetch her and saying ‘please don’t reply to this’.

Avril apparently kept in the dark

She didn’t know that they had been arrested on murder charges when Alaia died, Avril told the Record.
“I only found out when I went to stay with them again after the baby died, then it only came out that they were arrested at the time,” she said.
“I also didn’t think much of [their arrest] at the time; I thought when a child dies under abnormal circumstances, the parents are arrested as a routine. I thought it was a process they needed to go through.”

Stacey-Lee not around when babies stopped breathing

According to her mother, Stacey-Lee wasn’t in the room on either occasion when Alaia and then Amanee ‘choked’ or stopped breathing.
Regarding Amanee’s death, she said her daughter was at work at the time. She worked alongside her sister last year.
“I received an SMS from my other daughter to say the baby died and she didn’t believe the story that Adam had told her.
“She said he said it’s the same thing that happened before; the baby was sleeping, she choked or threw up in her sleep, she stopped breathing and he rushed the baby to the doctor.”

Listen to these soundclips of the Record’s interview with Avril:

“The police must lock them up”

Avril wants her daughter to be arrested and jailed and said it is the only way that she can fight for her once more.
“They must be arrested as they’re fugitives now, they’ve broken the law. If they’re innocent in the children’s deaths, that’s all good and well, but now they’re guilty of breaking the law.”
She believes Junaid manipulated her daughter and his grip on her is too strong.
“When they’re separated and jailed, when she’s out from under his influence, then I will fight for my child, for her freedom, so that she can start over again without him one day.”

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Baby murders: Their mother’s online bid for sympathy

Couple still MIA after second murder charge