Shanara Mobley broke down as she made an emotional testimony describing how 52-year-old Gloria Williams stole little Kamiyah from her arms in 1998.
The 36-year-old recalled the agony of the last two decades and yelled across the courtroom: "That is my child. I am your mother Kamiyah!"
She also claimed Williams preyed on her as a naive 16-year-old when she swooped into the hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, posing as a nurse.
Williams snatched the eight-hours-old girl and took her to South Carolina, where she raised her as Alexis Manigo, for 19 years.
The truth only surfaced when Kamiyah tried to apply for a driver's licence but didn't have a valid birth certificate.
Recounting the events of July 10, 1998, Shanara said she couldn't wait to take her baby home and show her off.
She said a "nurse" had spent hours with the new mum before pretending to have her child's temperature taken but never returned with her baby girl.
Shanara said: "She was real nice, I trusted her. Oh my god, that woman touched me.
"She preyed on a child because I was young, she preyed on a child and took my child."
The mum also recalled the moment of sheer panic when she realised her baby was missing as she crawled along the floor "screaming" and "hollering".
In the months after the abduction, Shanara said she had nightmares and began self-medicating as she suffered with depression.
She added: "Thinking about suicide every day, people watching me all day every day, no one was leaving me unattended.
"I always thought about my baby every day, every day, every day. I would catch myself in my car crying, in bed crying, taking a bath crying, doing something with her siblings and crying."
But though the years have passed, she told how the pain hadn't got any easier to manage.
Calling out to her daughter from across the courtroom, she said: "It doesn't heal now, I am still hurting.
"When you're reaching out to my child – I am your mother Kamiyah, I am your mother!"
Shanara said it hurt to see that her daughter has Williams' number saved in her phone as "mommy".
Kamiyah has been left torn between the woman who gave birth to her and the woman who has raised her for almost 20 years.
Williams was arrested in 2017 before pleading guilty to kidnapping in March – and she could face 22 years in prison.
The teen first met her biological mum Shanara and dad, Craig Aiken, 42, who had separated after the abduction, shortly after the arrest.
She has previously defended Williams, saying: "My mom's no felon," and in an earlier court appearance, was heard saying "I love you, mom".
Kamiyah managed to quietly piece together her backstory from Google and once called her biological mum, but hung up when she heard her voice.
She has spent the last year trying to build a relationship with her birth parents, as well as their numerous other children she now counts as half siblings.
The sentencing hearing is set to resume on Friday.
Source: Read Full Article
