Anniversary of an Abduction…as illegal child kidnappings prove DHA has a point

Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary since Mark B*’s son was taken from him by his wife in a kidnapping situation which has become increasingly common for South Africans who live abroad, when one parent wishes to return to SA…and which is part of the motivation by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) to implement stricter border controls for children travelling into and out of South Africa, including the need for a parent travelling alone with their children to produce a letter of consent from the other parent.

In the case of Mark, there was no letter. There was no consent. And actually, there was no knowledge.

The frustration for many South Africans like him is that South African authorities have been slow to react in cases of child abductions, even though South Africa has signed the Hague Convention calling for quick action and the return of children in these situations. Mark has hit a further hurdle with a delay caused by a judge in South Africa.

On the 8th of October 2013, Mark’s wife secretly left the UK – where they had been living for over four years – and took their then 6-year-old son with her…

Here is Mark’s Story in his words…

I called the UK Police as I was concerned that my wife and son may have been in an accident. I asked the police to check with hospitals as repeated calls to her mobile and to her friends yielded little information.

The UK Police managed to find out that she had not taken my son to school that day, but had gone to her place of work where she booked a taxi and went to Heathrow. She then boarded a plane to Amsterdam via Nairobi and then flew to South Africa.

I received a ‘Dear John’ email from her the next day, justifying her actions.

In October 2013 I started my Hague application for child abduction, on the advice of the UK Police and Reunite [a UK charity which specialises in the movement of children across international borders].

The following month my wife was served notice by the SA Central Authority. She responded by claiming a defence of Grave Risk, both to her and my son, whilst living with me in the UK, and said that’s why she left.

Both the state prosecutor and the head of JHB Central Authority were cautiously optimistic that my son would be returned, as my wife’s claims of Grave Risk were baseless, and she had admitted that if she had asked my permission to leave the UK with my son, I would have said no, and I would never had given her permission to take him out of the country.

It’s important to note that she was not co-operating with the South African authorities – the sheriff of the court tried on three different occasions to serve her summons to appear in court, but each time her mother informed them that both my wife and my son no longer live at the Gauteng home and that she’s unaware of where they might be. This led to the SA Central Authority having to appoint a private investigator to trace her whereabouts for three months, from January to March 2014.

The case eventually went to court and was heard by Judge X, but on the 28th of July 2014, he ruled “case dismissed with costs” on a single page letterhead.

To this day no other reasons have been provided by the Judge, and repeated attempts to obtain his reasons have fallen on deaf ears. The consensus of both the  SA state prosecutor and JHB Central Authority, is that the judge has undermined the whole process, rushed his decision and now is looking for points of law to justify his ruling.

During this year-long Egoli-like saga, the “concentrated influence” currently being endured by my son, is immense. Both his mother and grandmother have been working my son up to despise and resent me, and they school him in what to say prior to and during my very brief calls to South Africa.

I love my son. I miss him. I haven’t seen him for a year tomorrow…since his kidnapping.

I call everyday, but his mother seldom answers the calls and every conversation with my son ends up in him screaming profanities at me or claiming I’m not his father anymore and that I’m a loser, fat, and that he’ll chop my head off with the sword, as well as other upsetting things.

From my understanding, the Hague Convention – which South Africa has signed up to – was designed to speed up the recovery of children wrongfully removed from their habitual residence. The Convention stipulates that the need for a speedy return is best for the long-term benefits of the abducted child and that there’s always a risk of a concentrated influence being exerted by the abductee over the minor. This for me is unacceptable and there’s nothing apparently that I can do to stop this.

With my case now in limbo, I’m unable to mount an application for appeal; and validation has now been provided by Judge X that any mother, no matter how flimsy her defence may be, can remove their child from their habitual residence and not face any consequences…

***

Cases like this will hopefully be averted once the new law concerning children travelling in and out of South Africa is implemented on 01 June 2015.

* All names have been changed to protect the privacy of all parties concerned.