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Zephany Nurse's kidnapper's parole to be reconsidered in July 2023

Ernest Mabuza Journalist
Lavona Solomon and Zephany Nurse on Christmas Day when she was five years old. The parole board says Solomon needs to undergo further interventions as part of her rehabilitation plan.
Lavona Solomon and Zephany Nurse on Christmas Day when she was five years old. The parole board says Solomon needs to undergo further interventions as part of her rehabilitation plan.
Image: SUPPLIED

The Correctional Supervision and Parole Board (CSPB) on Friday deemed it necessary for the woman who kidnapped Zephany Nurse to undergo further interventions as part of her rehabilitation.

Lavona Solomon’s profile will be submitted in July next year for reconsideration.

The correctional services department said a parole hearing by the CSPB involving Solomon and the victims was held on Friday.

Solomon is serving a 10-year sentence for kidnapping a three-day-old Nurse in April 1997. Solomon was sentenced in 2016.

Nurse, now known as Miché Solomon after a court ruled her real name could be made public, was stolen from a hospital and only reunited with her biological parents 18 years later.

Department spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said the victims in the matter, the Solomon and Nurse families, attended and participated in the parole hearing process.

“In following the procedure, the CSPB ensured that the victims were given an opportunity to offer a statement of impact which outlines how the offence may have affected them, a statement of opposition, which may include reasons why an offender should not be placed on parole or a recommendation on possible conditions to be applied when a placement is granted,” Nxumalo said.

He said the CSPB deemed it necessary for Solomon to undergo further interventions as part of her rehabilitation.

“In law, the discretion to grant parole or a further profile, lies with the Correctional Supervision and Parole Board, except in cases involving lifers.

“Consequently, a decision was taken, affirming that Lavona Solomon will need to undergo further assessments by specialists under the employ of correctional services, as well as a victim offender dialogue process for the purposes of restorative justice,” Nxumalo said.

He said the decision of the CSPB is influenced by the offender's response to development and treatment programmes associated with rehabilitation, the existence and quality of support systems in the community, the probability of reoffending, and the risk the offender may pose to the community at large and also the risk to the complainant.

TimesLIVE


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