Parents who are at war with each other, with their 11-year-old twin boys stuck in the middle, led a judge to call the children into his chambers, along with a social worker, to try to find “the voice of the child”.
Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, acting Judge C Marumoagae said courts could certainly benefit from the participation of children in care and contact cases.
“This need not be in an open court. By ascertaining the views of children who are affected by the dispute that the court is called upon to determine, the court may be in a better position to understand the children’s relationship with their parents,” the judge said.
He said the court may obtain uncensored information relating to the children’s level of comfort or discomfort with each parent, their relationship with other relatives, and other aspects of the children’s lives that parents themselves may not be aware of.
Following two separate urgent applications on the same topic – one by the mother and the other by the father – the judge said the matter was a classic example of unnecessary litigation that could easily be avoided in family disputes involving children.
While each estranged parent brought their own application for custody over the boys, the judge decided to throw the two applications together as it dealt with the same facts.
On the one hand, the father approached the court on an urgent basis to be awarded interim care and residency for the children who are at the centre of the parties’ dispute.
On the other hand, the mother brought a similar application, also on an urgent basis, wherein she sought, among others, the return of the children to her care and residency.
The only common ground appeared to be that each asked for an interim order, pending an investigation by the office of the family advocate to determine where the children should ultimately live.
It was argued on behalf of the father that the children were experiencing emotional abuse due to their mother and grandmother’s alleged alcohol consumption.
The children had also expressed concern over the drinking taking place at their mother’s house.
While not denying that she consumed alcohol, the mother denied that she abused alcohol. The judge said there was an urgent need for an investigation to be conducted to assess whether the children were being subjected to any emotional abuse.
“Surely allegations of abuse of alcohol should be taken seriously because this can potentially lead to the abuse of children, which cannot be tolerated,” he said.
The mother said the application was urgent, as the father had removed the children from her house and moved them into his own.
The mother said the father exposed the children to violence, especially against animals at his house. He allowed the children to shoot stray dogs and birds with air rifles at his smallholding.
After listening to the children’s views in his chambers, the judge ordered that the children remain with the father for now, however he said the order should not be interpreted as a win or loss for either parent.
“This is an interim order that is granted based on the evidence that the court evaluated.”
The Mercury