Daddy issues: Bride invites both father and kidnapper to her wedding, what happens next will stun you

Miche Zephany Sheldon, was snatched at 3 days old from her cot in Groote Schur Hospital, Cape Town, in the spring of 1997. She was taken by a woman named Lavona Solomon who was struggling with fertility issues and had dressed up as a nurse. Lavona took Miche home to her husband Michael and the couple raised her as their own. Miche, previously dubbed ‘South Africa's Madeleine McCann’grew up never questioning that they were her birth parents. Until…

How did Miche find out her ‘parents’ were really her kidnappers?

In 2015, a new girl called Cassidy joined Miche’s school. The resemblance between the two girls was so striking that social workers at the school asked Miche to undergo a DNA test. The test revealed that Cassidy and Miche were sisters.

What happened to Lavona and Michael?

It was also confirmed that Lavona and Michael were not Miche’s biological parents, and this led to Lavona being arrested for kidnapping and receiving a ten-year prison sentence.

Who are Miche’s real parents?

Miche met her birth parents on 25 February, 2015. However, having spent 17 years of her life believing that she already knew her mum and dad, this took some adjusting. At first,despite her best efforts, she felt no real connection to them. She explained:

Both families were just so harsh with each other, as well. I really had to adjust to having two different dads in my life.

What about the wedding?

However difficult relations were between the two halves of her life, Miche always knew that she wanted both of her dads to walk her down the aisle if she ever got married. And in March this year, that’s exactly what happened as Miche married Justin Sheldon and had both Michael and her biological father, Morne Nurse, walk her towards her new future.

At first, Nurse was not onboard with the plan. But, the focus of the day was on Miche and her husband, and - unusually - the union of their three families. In the end, Nurse ‘opened his heart’ to walk alongside Michael as he accompanied his daughter down the aisle.

Read more: Kidnapped 11 years ago, this girl was found over 500 km from her home

What about Lavona?

Lavona is due to be released from prison later this month (August 2023), and though Miche says the relationship between her two families is improving, she has no contact with the woman who stole her as a newborn. However, she still has compassion for the person she called mum for 17 years:

I don't see the mum who raised me as criminal and evil. Everyone just got hurt in the process. We all just needed to heal.

Read more:

⋙ Girl evades a kidnapping by using an incredible trick

⋙ This Rottweiler found an abandoned baby in a shed, what it did next will surprise you

Sources used:

The Lad Bible:Woman taken at birth and brought up by kidnapper walks down the aisle with both 'dads'

The Sun: DOUBLE DADDY ‘South Africa’s Maddie’ snatched as toddler & raised by another man walks down the aisle with him AND her biological dad