True Crime South Africa

Episode 163 The Wrongful Conviction of Nolubabalo Nomsuka

A young woman delivers her baby boy at home one month before his due date. As neighbours gather to help, accusations begin to fly and soon Nolubabalo Nomsuka is swept up in a torrent of lies and assumptions that will change her life forever. (24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447) (Support the show on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/truecrimesa) (Support the show on PayPal https://www.paypal.me/truecrimesa)

Duration:: 33m
Broadcast on:: 30 Aug 2024
Audio Format:: aac

The only cries are of a mother in pain, the pain of birth and of loss, soon that pain will be multiplied, beyond comprehension. Suddenly, the world is turned upside down. The truth is a lie, and lies are the only way out. This is True Crime South Africa. I'm Nicole Engelbrecht, and you're listening to Episode 163, The Wrongful Conviction of Nolububalo Nomsuka. Make upgrading your security a priority, with Ring's range of smart home security devices, indoor and outdoor cameras, video doorbells and alarms. Ring products are easy to install and allow you to monitor your home from your phone via the Ring app, no matter where you are. With cameras in strategic locations, indoors and outdoors, you can create a ring of security around your property. Ring security devices boast advanced features, including live view, two-way talk, motion-activated alerts and night vision. Ring, keeping people close to what's important. Since 2019, True Crime South Africa has been telling the stories of the victims of violent crime in South Africa. The podcast is independent. That means no big or even little corporates fund it. And that's just the way I like it. And it's the only independent podcast in South Africa that consistently charts in the top 10. Keeping a podcast like this going is time consuming, and for the most part, it remains a one-woman process. It's me. I'm the one woman. You. Yes, you. Other reason this podcast continues to flourish and help bring in tips on missing person and cold cases. If you'd like to help keep the show running, please consider supporting our sponsors, signing up to Patreon or PayPal, follow the show on the socials, as the kids say, and share it with your fellow partners in crime. You can find our social links and learn more about our sponsors at True Crime South Africa/donate. Not out to this week's Patreon and PayPal superstars. A huge thank you goes out to Angel, Natalie, Marion Collie, and Vunani Manugany. Thank you so much everyone. Your support really does make a huge difference. Patreon supporters get one additional exclusive episode a month, a shout out on the pod, and other exclusive content, including Q&A's with me, as and when it's available. It's a minimum of $1 a month. I think you should do it. Please. And thank you. Kaaba. I've only ever covered one other wrongful conviction case on the podcast. I think these cases are incredibly important to talk about, though, because as much as we need to hear about successful convictions, I think it's also vitally important to remember that sometimes the system does fail. And there are innocent people in prison, even serving life sentences for crimes they did not commit. This podcast is victim-focused, as you well know. And as I've come to understand over the last few years, sometimes victims don't look the way we expect them to. In researching this case, I used a court document, several media articles, and an episode of the Showmax series accused. So let's get into episode 163, the wrongful conviction of NOLU BABALO NOM SUCA. The following episode may contain sensitive material, including descriptions of violence, sexual assault, or graphic descriptions of injuries to victims. If you feel you may be triggered by such material, please consider this before accessing our content. To access trauma counseling or services, please see the helpline information on our show notes. NOLU BABALO NOM SUCA was born in the Eastern Cape. But she, her mom, and three brothers, were eventually moved to Quasil in Attal, and she spent most of her childhood there in an area called Lamontville. NOLU BABALO, affectionately called NOLU, by her friends and family, had ever had a relationship with her father. Her mom had raised her and her brothers on her own, until she passed away, when NOLU was still in school, and she and her brothers lived on their own after that. NOLU had always wanted to be a businesswoman, and she'd worked hard at school. She started school late, and with a few disruptions that occurred during her childhood, she was significantly behind in grades. When NOLU was 21, she felt pregnant, and decided to leave full-time school, and instead care for her daughter, and complete her metric by correspondence. NOLU was determined to finish her schooling though, and so she worked hard to continue raising her daughter, while simultaneously studying and caring for the home she shared with two of her brothers. In 2011, when NOLU was 23, she was completing grade 11, when she met a man that she got into a relationship with. The couple were very much in love, also NOLU thought. When she felt pregnant with a man's child though, he soon started to claim that she'd been cheating on him, and she was pregnant with another man's child. NOLU was horrified at the allegation, and sent her boyfriend away. She had been raising her first daughter on her own. Her mother had raised her and her brothers on her own, and she knew that she could raise this child alone too. She wouldn't put up with the disrespect of a man who wanted to shirk his responsibility. Over the next few months, NOLU worked hard to keep up with her schoolwork while her pregnancy grew. She attended the local clinic for her checkups, and by all accounts, everything seemed fine, and the baby, which she would discover was a boy, was growing well. NOLU was due in January 2012, but in early December 2011, she awoke to severe pains in her abdomen. Her brothers weren't home, and when she went to the toilet, she realised that her water had broken, and she was in labour. NOLU panicked. Her baby was still a month away from being full term. State ambulances were also notorious for taking ages to get to callouts, so instead, NOLU called a friend who lived nearby. As she put the phone down, she realised that the baby was already coming. She sunk down onto the floor beside her bed, and through a haze of pain, NOLU soon delivered her baby alone. The infant was still attached to her through the umbilical cord, as NOLU noticed the child's colour was ashen, but she thought he was cold. She pulled a blanket off the bed and wrapped the baby up. She was still experiencing contractions, and would soon deliver the placenta, but as soon as she was past the worst of the pain, she looked more closely at her son. It was then that she realised that he hadn't yet made a sound. Her first daughter had cried as soon as she was born, but this baby was terrifyingly quiet. NOLU watched the baby's chest and realised that he wasn't breathing. Fear rose in NOLU's body as she stroked her baby's face and held him close to her, hoping beyond hope that her heartbeats and breath would somehow morph into his body and he would be okay. As she was about to grab her phone to call her friend again, the woman walked in the door. She ran up to NOLU and asked what was going on. NOLU was going into shock there, and she repeatedly asked her friend to get her help. The friend called her own mother, who she was sure would know what to do. And within a few minutes the house was filled with women from the community. By this point, NOLU was sobbing and almost incapable of speaking. She had lost a lot of blood in the delivery and the horrible knowledge that her baby was not alive was dawning on her. If she'd hoped that this group of people would help her and get her baby help, that was certainly not what was about to happen. As soon as the women ascertained that the baby was indeed dead, they turned on NOLU. As the young woman sobbed, they insisted that she explain what she had done to the child. NOLU was speechless. She could only shake her head in denial of their building accusations. Soon, their accusations were clear. They believed NOLU must have killed the baby. The women screamed at her, their faces right up against hers, as she still sat on the floor where she'd given birth. Someone took her baby away from her and then the police were called. Later on, NOLU would explain what had happened when two female police officers arrived on the scene that morning. The officers hadn't spoken to NOLU for the first few minutes they were there. Instead, they spoke with the women who had arrived after the child was already delivered. They told the officers that NOLU had killed her child. In the chaos, someone said the words strangled. She must have strangled the baby. Everyone agreed. A rush of new, angry energy moved through the group. The female police officer approached NOLU. From the very first interaction, NOLU said that there was no effort from the officer to understand what had happened. NOLU cowered as the officers screamed at her, demanding to know why she'd killed her baby, where NOLU could only stammer and shake her head. The officer struck her, then kicked her. An hour after delivering a baby and in shock, NOLU was handcuffed and arrested for the murder of her newly delivered infants. NOLU was sure that at any minute, someone was going to realize that there'd been a terrible misunderstanding. But as she was transported to Montclair police station and led into an interview room with a male police officer, it soon dawned on her that everyone believed she had murdered her baby. The male police officer, NOLU says, was even more aggressive than the female one at the scene had been. Over and over, he demanded that she tell him what she had done to her baby. NOLU continued to insist that she hadn't done anything, the baby wasn't breathing when he was born. She didn't know why. But the male police officer continued to scream at her, becoming more and more aggressive. NOLU says that over the next five days that she was held at Montclair police station, she was tortured and beaten to such an extent that she could eventually barely walk or eat. But day after day, she'd be moved from the souls back to the interview room and the male police officer would start in on her again. Eventually, NOLU crumbled. In a haze of grief, pain, hunger and fear, she gave a false confession. She told the officer that she had strangled her baby. Finally, the torture stopped. NOLU was transferred from the holding souls to the awaiting trial section at Westville prison. Only when she was at the prison was NOLU given the opportunity to use a phone for the first time. She called her brother, who was horrified to hear what had happened. NOLU felt unsure as to whether she could share the details of the assault she'd suffered at the hands of the police over the prison phone. She told her brother that he would hear that she had confessed, but he should please not believe it. NOLU's brother had seen his sister with her older daughter. He knew that she was excited for the birth of the new baby, and he didn't believe for a second that she had intentionally killed her child. But he felt completely helpless. Whenever he tried to find out what was happening, he was sent from pillar to post. NOLU remained in prison over the festive season in 2011. She still hadn't heard from a legal aid lawyer by the time she was taken back to court in January 2012 for a bail hearing. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, she was granted bail of 1000 rand. But NOLU had no money to pay bail. She had no job and no form of income. Bill amounts are set according to various criteria. The seriousness of the crime plays a role. But mostly, aspects which can be argued by a defence attorney play the biggest roles. Such as the strength of the case presented by the prosecution, the accused's possible flight risk, and their financial means. With no way to pay the bail, and no understanding of the system, NOLU accepted her fate and went back to prison. She remained incarcerated for another month before she was eventually allocated a legal aid attorney who was able to get her art on bail without a financial security attached to it. While she was art on bail, she met with her lawyer who advised her to plead guilty. She explained that she would likely receive a reduced sentence in exchange for a guilty plea. And if she didn't, she could get a life sentence. Initially, NOLU was insistent. She hadn't killed her baby, so there was no way she was going to say she did. Over and again though, the lawyer told her that she had no choice. He said it was the best way to handle the situation. Of course, he was wrong, and certainly wasn't advising his client correctly, but NOLU had no understanding of the legal system. All she knew was that she was in a lot of trouble. She was innocent, but she also didn't want to spend the rest of her life in prison. And so, when her trial started in March 2012, NOLU took her lawyer's advice. She pleaded guilty to killing her baby, telling the courts that she had strangled the child after giving birth to him. The judge provisionally accepted her plea, but also wanted to hear more of the evidence. And so, witnesses were called to testify. The female police officer who had first attended the scene was called. She told the court that she'd arrived on the scene, ascertained that the baby was deceased, and then after being told that there was suspicion that NOLU had murdered her child, she'd arrested the young woman. NOLU wanted her lawyer to raise the assault with the witness in cross-examination, but he refused. So, instead, risking being held in contempt of court, NOLU stood and told the judge that the police officer on the stand had physically assaulted her. She was asked to take her seat, but the comments were already on the record. Two pathologists would be called to testify during the proceedings, and both would have evidence vital to NOLU's case. The first pathologist testified that there were no signs of strangulation on the infant. Undoubtedly, an adult strangling a fragile newborn would leave damage and bruising, but none of these were present in NOLU's baby. The second pathologist testified that they had found no sign of malicious violence toward the child, no trauma at all. Vitally, the pathologist testified that in his opinion, the baby had been stillborn and had not breathed at all outside of the womb. Now, one of the tests used by this pathologist included the flotation of the lungs of the child in a tub of water. Flotation tests to confirm a live birth are not definitive, though, so there could be an element of doubt in this. A wide range of other observations also pointed to the child having died before birth, though. And the pathologist took the weight of all of these tests and observations, as well as the lack of any trauma to the child's body, to ascertain that in their opinion, the child had not been born alive. NOLU's heart both soared and broke upon hearing this testimony. She was still grieving her son, and the thoughts that he had died while still in her body was heartbreaking. But the evidence also proved that she was innocent of killing him. That much she could ascertain from all the medical jargon. Surely now, the judge would see she was not guilty and would release her. But it was not to be. For reasons that would never be fully ascertained, the judge decided to completely ignore the pathologist's evidence and found NOLU guilty of her son's murder. And her defence lawyers claims that her pleading guilty would result in a reduced sentence also proved untrue, when her sentence was handed down. NOLU BABALO NOM SUCA was sentenced to life in prison. NOLU had no idea what this meant, and as she looked to her lawyer for explanation, handcuffs clicked around her wrists, and she was laid away. NOLU wasn't in the holding cells for five minutes, though, before she was called back up again. The judge had changed her mind about her sentence. Instead of life, NOLU was given a 20-year determinate sentence. This, the judge claimed, was as a result of who having a young daughter, and it would hopefully give the child some hope at having a relationship with her mother at some point in her life, if she was granted parole. Again, NOLU understood little of what this meant. Twenty years for a young woman, who was just 23 years old herself, seemed like a lifetime. But most importantly, she could not understand why she had been found guilty in the first place, if the pathologist had said her baby had died of natural causes. But no one would listen to her questions, and please, she was taken back to Westville prison to begin serving her sentence. Over the next few months, NOLU broke down emotionally. She hadn't been able to properly grieve for her son, as she'd been occupied with the legal case, and now, the grief of her loss as well as the feeling of helplessness at having been found guilty and sentenced for a crime she did not commit, overwhelmed her. NOLU attempted suicide by taking pain tablets she'd been holding, but she was discovered before the pills could take effect and rush to the hospital where her stomach was pumped. After that, she was given a few sessions with the prison psychologist, and the woman managed to convince NOLU that she should use her time to better herself for her own and her daughter's sake. And so, NOLU decided to register to complete her metric, which had always been her goal. Having something else to focus her attention on helped NOLU to stay sane, because no one would listen to her in prison. There, lots of prisoners claimed that they were innocent, so no one really took any notice anymore. Eventually, NOLU stopped talking about it, because it seemed pointless. Her family couldn't visit her very often, but she spoke to her daughter on the phone regularly. Her daughter was being cared for by family members, and NOLU clung to the hope that one day she'd be able to fit back into her life as her mother. Then in 2013, the offenders in Westville Prison had a visit from a woman named Tandi. Tandi worked for legal aid, and although NOLU initially listened with half an ear, thinking that these were the same people who had so badly represented her, resulting in her conviction. Soon, she was listening intently. Tandi was saying to the gathered group that if any of the offenders felt they had evidence to appeal either their convictions or their sentences, they should let her know, and she would ensure that their cases were assessed for possible appeal. Almost all the other incarcerated offenders left the meeting afterwards without speaking to Tandi, but NOLU hung behind. She approached the woman, figuring she had nothing left to lose, but expecting to be cut off and sent away without being listened to again, just like everyone else had done. But Tandi didn't do that. She listened. She asked questions, and then she told NOLU that if she could get proofed together of what she was saying, they would be willing to apply for an appeal for her. NOLU could not believe it. As new hope surged within her, she tried to temper it, not wanting to be disappointed yet again, but she couldn't help it. This was the closest she'd been to being able to get out of prison, and she was going to make sure she used this opportunity. The road ahead would not be easy, though. It would take another four years before NOLU, with the help of social workers, friends and family, was able to gather what she needed to have legal aid make the appeal application. For a long time, NOLU heard nothing about her appeal. She'd thought she'd be called to court again, but she wasn't. In the end, it wasn't necessary. The appeal court judges took one look at the evidence, and immediately overruled the trial judges ruling. There was no evidence that NOLU had strangled her baby. Rather, the only evidence against her was the young woman's own statement, the confession of a mourning mother who'd just given birth on her own hours before, and as NOLU's affidavits in the years that followed indicated, had been assaulted and coerced into confessing. There was no doubt that the conviction was unfair. The courts ruled that NOLU should be immediately released, and all record of her murder conviction removed. NOLU received the news from one of the prison guards. He called her from his cell and told her to get ready to leave the following day. That's how she found out that her appeal had been successful. Five years and six months after she'd been convicted, NOLU walked out of prison, a free woman. When she got home, she realised that her difficulties were not over, though. Although she tried her best to keep her relationship with her daughter close, she'd missed almost six years of the girl's developmental years. She had left a toddler behind, and she returned to find an eight-year-old who had already started school, and for some of the most important years of her childhood, had looked to someone else for mothering. It would be a long road to heal their relationship fully. In 2018, NOLU decided that she was going to attempt to proceed with a wrongful imprisonment lawsuit against South Africa's Department of Justice for Compensation. There's no further information available about the status of this case. From my previous research around wrongful convictions and the opportunities available for victims to take action, it is incredibly difficult to launch such cases, especially for under-resourced people. In addition, even if such cases do get heard, the results, if it ends in a settlement in the victim's favour, will often be part of a non-disclosure clause, preventing the information from making it to the public. From the episode of accused I watched, which was released this year and seemed to have been filmed relatively recently, NOLU's financial position definitely doesn't seem to have improved. So I can only guess that either the case was a non-starter or hasn't yet been finalised. I can't imagine that if she did end up being able to present her case in court that she wouldn't get some level of compensation, because this was undoubtedly a horrific failure of the justice system. Since her release, NOLU has had two more children. She was in the process of completing a business degree she started while in prison, and although the last five and a half years of her life and her pain and trauma will never go away, she does feel it has made her stronger. Now, she is certain she can tackle anything life throws at her. NOLU never had the opportunity to perform the traditional naming ceremony for her son, because she was arrested and then imprisoned, and thus had weighed heavily on her mind while she was in jail. Without the ceremony in her belief system, her son's soul would not be able to rest in peace in the afterlife. So as soon as she could after her release, she conducted the ceremony and felt some semblance of peace that she'd at least been able to do this for her child. Justice is a pervading theme throughout all the podcasts I do, and the books I write about crime in South Africa. What is it? How do we know when justice has been done? Who deserves it? And why does it sometimes fail? This case, though, makes me think about how justice isn't always what we think it is. Anyone looking at NOLU's case from the public eye and from the outside would have seen a mother who'd killed her child. It's a crime we would often define as one of the worst, perhaps, completely abhorrent to nature. We would see a young woman who'd admitted to her guilt, and when a learner judge made a decision that went against the evidence, we would have said, well, they know better than us. She must be guilty, despite what the pathologist said. Because the basis of any mistrust we have in the judicial system is that it will fail to hold those accountable who should be. We rarely worry about what might happen when the reverse is true. I'd like to hope that cases like NOLU's are few and far between, but we can never say that for sure. And perhaps it's a reminder to approach all of these cases with an open mind. Because sometimes, every now and then, the victim doesn't always look as we expect them to. NOLUBABALO, NOM SUKA, may you love the rest of your life with the freedom you deserve. And baby, NOM SUKA, rest gently. If you'd like to hear more victim-focused true crime content, please subscribe to True Crime South Africa on Spotify or the platform you're using to listen right now. If you're looking for something still related to real-life stories, but often with a more positive slant, you can check out my new podcast series I Live Through This. You can follow both podcasts on social media, or on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I'll be back next week with another episode. Until then, thank you for your support, and I'll chat to you soon. [Music]