Court orders mom to return children to their father in Belgium

THE POLICE had to trace the whereabouts of a Cape Town mother – who was ordered by the court to return her two children to their father in Belgium – but it was unknown to the father and the authorities where she stayed with the children.

The Western Cape High Court on Monday issued an order that the children – two boys, aged 7 and 3 – had to be returned to their father.

It was also ordered that a female officer was to receive the children and facilitate their return to Belgium.

The assistance of the police was called in following the court order to trace the whereabouts of the mother.

When the police eventually found her, she refused to open the door for them.

Attorney Bertus Preller, who represented the father in his legal bid for the children to return to him, yesterday said they had to return to court where they successfully obtained an order that the police may forcefully obtain entry to the house to remove the children.

The order for the children to return to Belgium was obtained in terms of The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction Act.

The parents were previously involved in a cohabitation relationship, which commenced in Cape Town in 2011.

They relocated to Belgium in August 2019 and continued to live together until December 2022 when the relationship came to an end.

The woman returned to South Africa and left the children with their father, as per the agreement between the parents.

The loving father said he tried his best to convince the mother to remain in Belgium so that she was still close to the children. He even agreed to relocate to either Luxembourg or Canada where he could work and tried to obtain employment for the mother. However, she was not interested. The court was told that the father had secured a comfortable and loving home for the boys in Belgium and his work even granted him the indulgence to take time off as a single father when needed.

The problems arose when he agreed that the mother could take the children for the Christmas holidays. As she had been in South Africa prior to this with the children, without any problems, the father had agreed.

The mother came to fetch the children and she agreed to return them by January 3, as the eldest boy had to return to school.

But January 3 came and went and the father had heard nothing from the mother. His calls and text messages to her were also ignored.

The desperate father said he was only allowed once earlier this month to speak to his eldest son for a short while.

The child made it clear that he wanted to go home. The child also told him that his mother had enrolled him and his brother in a school here.

The father said this is a clear indication that the mother had no intention of returning the children to Belgium.

The father also told the court that he was desperately worried about his children, as he did not know where they lived and under what conditions.

As he did not know at which address to serve the notice of this application on her, the father earlier obtained permission to serve the court papers via WhatsApp and email on her.

The mother indicated that she would oppose the application, but nothing was heard from her since.

The father meanwhile said his eldest son, who is currently enrolled in Grade 1 in Belgium, has already missed the first three weeks of the school term and cannot afford to miss any more classes.