'She is a good person': Friend defends Sameemah Jacobs, accused of baby snatching, after bail release

“She's not a monster.”

These are the words of Anushka Christians, a long-time friend of accused baby snatcher Sameemah Jacobs, who was released on R4 000 bail on Tuesday. 

Christians supported Jacobs throughout her bail application appearances at the Bellville Magistrate's Court following her arrest on charges of kidnapping and defeating the ends of justice after allegedly abducting 9-day-old baby Mogamat Imaad Sharmar on June 28. 

Magistrate Gconbani Ndaleni on Tuesday applied strict bail conditions to Jacobs, which include that she may not visit Mitchell's Plain or Strandfontein.

She is also restricted from making contact with witnesses including baby Imaad's mother, Imaan Sharmar.

She is to sign in at a designated police station and will be living with a close relative.

Ndaleni said that Jacobs was a mother of minor children who also had the right to be protected, was among the reasons why she was a suitable candidate for bail.

He added that she was a first-time offender with no outstanding warrants or pending cases, and that she would not evade her trial.

He said while he sympathised with the victim's family, the State did not provide exceptional circumstances to not allow her bail.

"The release of an accused out on bail is not the question of guilt, that is for the trial to question," he said while quoting various case laws.

Outside court, Jacobs’s close friends said she was a caring mother and not the evil person people believed her to be.

“We have been friends since 2014,” said Christians.

“She is not a monster, she is a very soft-hearted lady.

“I know Sameemah as a supportive mother to her children and to children in her community.

“She helped me a lot with my two boys, whenever she could, she would assist me.

“I got a call from a friend on the evening of June 30 to say the police are at Sameemah’s mother’s house and I asked what was happening there and they said 'the baby', I couldn't even speak.

"I told myself this cannot be true, what happened here? What triggered her mind?

“I will not say that she is innocent; if she is found guilty at the end of the matter, so it must be.

“I am just here to tell you that she is not a monster, she is a very good woman at heart.”

Jacobs’s friend, Mishkah Hendricks, looked after her three children.

“It is very emotional for us and the children,” she said.

Another friend of hers, Shamielah Davids, said she did not want to speculate about her innocence or guilt.

“Like they say, you are innocent until proven guilty,” said Davids.

Jacobs was consoled by a friend after being released from the court's holding cells.

She appeared in good spirits as she walked towards her friends and covered her face with a jacket.

The decision to release her however, left Sharmar in tears and she had to be consoled by her aunt, Jennifer Hendricks.

Inside court, Sharmar wept and was too emotional to speak with the media, as she was led away by relatives.

The State is set to prove that Jacobs kidnapped baby Imaad from his mother at Middestad Mall in Bellville on June 28 under the pretence that she was a volunteer for an NPO.

The infant was found in Jacobs's home and she claimed he was her baby.

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