Pretoria midwife Yolande Maritz Fouchee has been convicted of culpable homicide and a string of other offences after a Gauteng High Court in Pretoria found that she secretly induced labour in pregnant women using powerful drugs mixed in water – without their knowledge or consent – and ignored serious complications that led to the death of a nine-day-old baby.
Fouchee, 48, the owner and former midwife at You and Me Midwife-led Maternity Care in Murrayfield, operated her private practice in the east of Pretoria between 2019 and 2020, presenting herself as capable of safely managing normal and low‑risk births.
Instead, the court found, she repeatedly acted outside safe and lawful practice, misled women about the risks they faced and failed to refer patients to specialists when complications arose.
Yolande Fouchee, a Pretoria midwife who secretly administered water mixed with labour induction medication without patients’ consent has been found guilty of a series of crimes, including the culpable homicide of a nine-day-old infant.
Disgraced midwife Yolande Fouchee was found guilty of multiple charges of fraud after secretly using Cytotec or Oxytocin to induce labour without consent.
The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria heard how her negligence and failure to address complications led to the death of one of the babies.
Expert testimonies and medical evidence supported the case.
On Wednesday, the court convicted Fouchee of culpable homicide, fraud, six counts of assault, five counts of assault involving a legal duty, and the employment of an unqualified person.
She was found guilty of culpable homicide, fraud, six counts of assault, five counts of assault involving a legal duty, and the employment of an unqualified person.
According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Fouchee’s conduct went far beyond professional negligence and entered the realm of criminality.
According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), between 2019 and 2020, Fouchee operated as a midwife, conducting pregnancy check-ups and assisting women during childbirth at her practice in Murrayfield, east of Pretoria. The court heard that she routinely overlooked pregnancy complications and failed to refer patients to appropriate specialists.
The court further heard how Fouchee falsely assured expectant mothers that she was capable of handling normal to low-risk births.
Central to the case was the revelation that Fouchee secretly administered labour‑inducing drugs to women – concealed in what they believed to be plain water – in order to trigger or speed up labour, without disclosing what she was doing or seeking their consent.
NPA spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said:
“During labour, she secretly administered water mixed with Cytotec or Oxytocin to induce or augment labour without the mother’s knowledge or consent.”
Cytotec (misoprostol) and Oxytocin are potent medications used to induce or augment labour under strict medical supervision. Improper use can cause dangerous contractions, distress to the unborn baby and serious complications for both mother and child.
The court heard that Fouchee not only failed to obtain informed consent but also failed to recognise and appropriately manage complications that followed, with devastating consequences in one of the cases before court.
One tragic case involved a mother whose labour was induced by Fouchee on 3 April 2019. Although the baby was born, complications overlooked by Fouchee led to the infant’s death just nine days later.
It was this death – together with a series of disturbing experiences reported by other mothers – that ultimately prompted some of Fouchee’s former patients to turn to the authorities and the professional regulator.
This incident, along with other complaints, prompted victims to report Fouchee to the South African Nursing Council in 2020. Criminal charges were subsequently filed at Silverton police station, leading to her arrest on 24 June 2024.
Despite pleading not guilty to all charges, Fouchee faced a comprehensive State case built on detailed medical evidence, first‑hand accounts from patients and testimony from her own daughter.
Mahanjana said that despite pleading not guilty to all charges, Fouchee was convicted after State prosecutor advocate Jennifer Cronje presented compelling evidence.
She said testimonies from Fouchee’s daughter, the victims and expert witnesses, including professors Priya Soma-Pillay and Izelle Smuts from Steve Biko Academic Hospital, were instrumental in proving the case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Detailed medical reports on antenatal care, labour, delivery and neonatal emergency care further solidified the prosecution’s case.
The expert witnesses, both senior obstetric and neonatal specialists at Steve Biko Academic Hospital, unpacked where Fouchee’s conduct deviated from accepted standards of care, and how those failures contributed to harm.
Their evidence, together with documentary records of antenatal visits, labour, delivery and emergency interventions, helped the court piece together a pattern: undisclosed medication use, inadequate monitoring, missed warning signs and a failure to escalate care when mothers or babies were in danger.
Beyond the clinical details, the fraud and assault charges reflect the broader gravity of what the court found had occurred at the Murrayfield practice. By misrepresenting her capabilities and secretly administering drugs, the court concluded, Fouchee both deceived her patients and violated their bodily integrity.
The conviction has been welcomed by prosecuting authorities, who say it sends an important message that health professionals who abuse their positions of trust can and will face criminal consequences.
Advocate Marika Jansen van Vuuren, acting Director of Public Prosecutions in Gauteng, praised advocate Cronje’s efforts, stating that the case sets a vital precedent.
This judgment demonstrates that medical professionals are not above the law and can be held criminally accountable for their actions.
“We hope this ruling provides some justice and closure to the victims and their families,” she added.
For the affected families, the verdict marks a measure of acknowledgement for the trauma and loss they endured – from babies who struggled at birth to the infant who died just nine days into life.
For the broader public, the case has raised uncomfortable questions about oversight of private midwife‑led practices, the enforcement of professional standards and the vulnerability of expectant mothers who place their trust in individual practitioners.
The South African Nursing Council had already been seized with complaints about Fouchee’s conduct before the criminal case was opened. The High Court’s ruling now adds a layer of criminal accountability that may influence how regulators and prosecutors handle similar cases in future, particularly where informed consent is absent and powerful medications are used off‑protocol.
The matter was postponed to 25 May for sentencing proceedings.
At that hearing, the court will weigh aggravating and mitigating factors – including the breach of trust inherent in the midwife–patient relationship and the loss of a child – in deciding an appropriate sentence for a practitioner whose actions the State has argued were not just negligent, but criminally so.
