Father accused of using false custody order

A DURBAN businessman has been accused of using a falsified court order in January to gain custody of his three minor children from his estranged common-law wife.

The mother, who is a medical professional, released the children into the care of her former partner, based on the order that was rubber-stamped by the Durban High Court and handled by the police.

It later emerged that the Joburgbased advocate and law firm said to be representing the father, stated in writing that they had no involvement in such a matter.

The judge named in the order also distanced himself from it.

Law firm Logan Naidoo and Associates, the legal representatives of the mother, also established the case number on the January 10 order was fictitious.

The mother then filed an urgent ex parte application with the Durban High Court to regain control of her children.

Ex parte orders are usually granted at the request of one party for their benefit.

The order was granted, the father’s right to have contact with the children was suspended, and he had until February 21 to lodge his objection against it being finalised.

His legal representatives, Vasu Naidoo and Associates, on January 31, confirmed their intention to oppose the order.

In her application, the mother said their relationship began in 2015, they were never legally married, and “irreconcilable differences” led to its end in December last year.

She claimed she endured constant physical and emotional abuse, and he was a “dominating narcissist, addicted to drugs and abused alcohol”.

The woman is seeking psychological counselling.

Each time they separated, she reconciled with him “for the sake of her minor children”.

Although they separated, she allowed him access, and in December, she let him keep their two older children.

She hosted a birthday party at her home for the youngest child in January.

The father attended with the other children.

At some point he left and when he returned 10 minutes later, he was “hysterical” and hurled verbal abuse at her.

She believed he had been in an altercation outside her house, and she fled to a neighbour’s house with the children.

A day later, she was contacted by someone claiming to be a court official, about the custody of her children.

He said an order was granted to the father for immediate custody, he viewed pictures and videos of her being under the influence of drugs, she needed to be assessed at a rehabilitation within 48 hours, not before reporting to the nearest police station to execute the order.

She “begged” the father to leave the children with her and suggested another reconciliation, but he refused.

Officers from the Wentworth branch of SAPS called her about the order.

She complied, believing it was genuine, but her attorney said it was “a complete forgery”.

She claimed the father committed fraud, forgery and uttering to deceive her and had effectively kidnapped the children.

The father denied all the allegations made against him and accused the mother of not making “full and frank disclosure of facts” in her ex parte application. Instead, she “misled” the court.

He accused his mother-in-law of interfering in their relationship.

He said the children’s mother was addicted to pethidine, a drug used to treat insomnia, which led to many arguments between them.

The man claimed members of her family were drug lords and he suspected they were responsible for the attack in February 2021, where he was stabbed multiple times and required medical attention.

This forced him to leave their home and seek accommodation elsewhere.

After much negotiation, his two older children began to live with him from March last year.

He then launched an urgent court application for primary care of the children which the mother opposed.

Interim relief was granted to the mother and he was given limited access.

In September they ad agreed to reconcile and suspended the legal battle, but that didn’t last.

They tried again in November, they moved into his home, but he claimed it was a “disaster”, she constantly used pethidine, and he video recorded her bouts of intoxication.

She left on December 1 with their youngest child. The two other children refused to go.

He claimed he was “viciously attacked” by a group of men during a visit to her home in January. It was the youngest child’s birthday.

Days later he got a call from a man named “Hilton Raman” who claimed he could “sort out” his problems.

Raman visited on January 11 and showed him the order stating the children be returned to his care.

Seeing the document had an official court stamp, he believed it was legitimate.

Raman said he would facilitate the release of his children and called the mother about the order, but another family member answered and agreed to the handover of the children.

That did not happen.

The father believed the mother and her family were involved in a conspiracy to implicate him in the forgery of the document.

He said it was “ludicrous” to suggest he falsified the order and asked that her application be dismissed.