Gosiame Thamara Sithole, the South African woman who claims to have given birth to a record-setting 10 babies, has been admitted to a psychiatric ward. The 37-year-old was taken to the psychiatric ward last week at Tembisa Hospital in Johannesburg for a mental health assessment, according to South Africa’s Eyewitness News.
She was first taken to a police station last Thursday before her case was passed on to social workers who then admitted her to Tembisa Hospital’s psychiatric ward. “The medical evaluation has shown that there was no pregnancy. It also shows that there are no physical scars to indicate a recent C-section,” a source told Eyewitness News.
Sithole had not been seen publicly following claims that she had given birth to decuplets in June. Teboga Tsotetsi, her husband, said recently that he is yet to see her and his 10 babies.
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The babies — seven boys and three girls — were supposedly welcomed on the midnight of June 8. Per the South African Sunday Times, none of the public or private hospitals mentioned in earlier reports have sighted the babies.
Tsotetsi’s family released a statement saying that “He (Tebego) made several attempts to visit his girlfriend, but she has failed to disclose her whereabouts and the condition of her babies.
“The family has resolved and concluded that there are no decuplets born between Tebogo Tsotetsi and Gosiame Sithole, until proven otherwise and wishes to apologize for any inconvenience and embarrassment,” the statement added.
Police said that Sithole was apprehended following a report that she was a missing person, filed by Tsotetsi’s family.
Sithole’s attorney, Refiloe Mokoena, said that her client is currently “being held against her will” at the hospital. “She declined that she should be taken to the Tembisa Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation because she felt strongly that she is of sound mind,” Mokoena told South African site IOL.
“She then instructed me to accompany her to the Tembisa Hospital. And when we arrived at the hospital, they took her straight to ward 14, the psychiatric ward. They told me that now she was in their custody, they would not be allowing the lawyers and the team of psychologists that she had requested to be present,” Mokoena added.
Meanwhile, several family members of Sithole have maintained that she did indeed give birth to 10 babies, overtaking former world record holder Nadya Suleman, who had eight children in 2009, and Halima Cisse, a Malian woman who gave birth to nine children in May.
