The Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) has sentenced disgraced former midwife Yolande Fouchee to an effective 23 years in prison.

According to News24, in April, Fouchee, the owner of You and Me, a birthing centre in Pretoria, was found guilty on one count of culpable homicide, one count of fraud, six counts of assault and five counts of assault involving a legal duty.

She was also found guilty of the employment of an unqualified person.

The court found Fouchee secretly administered water mixed with Cytotec or oxytocin to induce or augment labour without the mother’s knowledge or consent in several different incidents.

She further routinely overlooked pregnancy complications and failed to refer patients to appropriate specialists, telling mothers that their pregnancies were considered low risk.

Her conduct led to the death of nine-day-old Noah von Kloëg, born with cerebral palsy in April 2019.

Two other infants were also diagnosed with cerebral palsy after births assisted by Fouchee, and one was stillborn.

According to the pre-sentence report, Fouchee showed no remorse, maintaining she had done nothing wrong.

State Advocate Jennifer Cronje argued Fouchee’s conduct associated with the current offences appeared inconsistent with the values and characteristics attributed to her by those closest to her.

Judge Mokhine Mosopa said Fouchee’s conduct was grossly negligent and that the community needs to be protected from her. Her sentence includes eight years’ imprisonment for culpable homicide, five years for each count of assault and assault involving a legal duty, and two years for fraud.

Mosopa ordered that some of the sentences run concurrently, leading to an effective 23-year jail term.

Full News24 report