Trial of midwife set to resume in January

THE trial of a Pretoria East midwife, accused of causing several babies to either die or be born disabled, will only resume next year after four mothers who were complainants against her have concluded their evidence in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria.

- ZELDA VENTER

The prosecution will call medical experts when the trial resumes again on January 19. This is in a bid to refute Yolande Maritz Fouchee’s defences to the 14 charges against her.

Four mothers took the stand against Fouchee and, in some cases, the grandmothers who were present at Fouchee’s You&Me Birth Centre when the children were born also testified.

In two of the cases, the babies had died - one died nine days after he was born and another was stillborn. In two of the cases, the babies were born after suffering a lack of oxygen, which left them with cerebral palsy.

Fouchee, in each case, blamed certain medical conditions relating to the mothers for what happened to the babies.

She is mostly facing assault charges relating to the mothers who claimed they were given substances to endure labour.