An engineer has been given temporary custody of four of his children after arguing that his wife was an unfit mother.
|||An engineer has been given temporary custody of four of his children after arguing in court papers that his wife was an unfit mother who gambled away money he had left for food and groceries.
The court ruled that the fifth child, the oldest, is to stay with the mother.
The man claimed that his estranged wife abandoned the children for weeks at a time.
According to an urgent application lodged with the Western Cape High Court last week, the man claimed that burglars broke into his Goodwood home while he was away and stole his valuables in the presence of the unattended children, aged between three and 10.
He spends long stretches of time away from home because of the nature of his job.
He claimed that his wife withdrew up to R10 000 a day from his bank account, secured a refund of school fees he had paid in advance, and attempted to withdraw R50 000 from his bond account.
She was served with the application on Friday morning.
The woman attended court later in the day, when she denied the allegations and told Judge Willem Louw that her husband was a heavy drinker who assaulted her and had had an affair. The parties cannot be identified, to protect the identities of the children.
The husband said in an affidavit that he worked off-shore at an oil drill on a contract basis. While he was abroad, his wife disappeared for days or weeks at a time, leaving the children unattended and without food.
He blocked his bank card when he discovered that large sums had been withdrawn from his account, and decided to leave her with smaller amounts of cash and ensure there were enough groceries.
However, it later came to his attention that his wife gave the food to her family and left the children starving and at times sold meat to people on the street.
He also alleged that the children did not attend school regularly and that one child was held back in Grade 2 after being frequently absent.
In July 2009, when he returned from working in Nigeria, he found his home in a mess. “The walls and floors were caked in faeces and soiled nappies were lying everywhere. A lot of my furniture and appliances were missing… (My wife) had pawned them and I had to repurchase the items from Cash Crusaders,” he said.
He could not leave his work because he needed to earn an income and had to go to Singapore for work last month.
“I am at my wits’ end with worry about my children,” the man said.
He did not see his children when he returned from Singapore and said he suspected that she was living in Eastridge, Mitchells Plain, with them.
He regarded the area as dangerous and gang-infested.
“This is not a safe environment for my children,” he said.
Judge Louw ordered on Friday that the family advocate investigate and report back to him on March 13. In the interim the four younger children will live with their father, while the oldest would remain with the mother, who also had supervised visits on weekends. The family would also have to consult with a family counsellor. The case is due back in court on March 14.
fatima.schroeder@inl.co.za - CApe Argus