Family: Court intervenes in parental alienation case

In what experts have said is one of the most brutal cases of parental alienation, a KZN High Court (Durban) judge has intervened and ordered the immediate removal of two young children from their mother and placed them with their father. Judge Rashid Vahed has ordered that the two boys, aged nine and seven, must have no contact with their mother for at least four weeks, reports TimesLIVE. The process is to be overseen by a social worker and other professionals. The parents have been embroiled in divorce proceedings for eight years. In an independent experts report which came before Vahed in the father’s urgent application for the removal of the children from his estranged wife, a clinical psychologist and a curator appointed by the court both expressed concerns that the elder child was being ‘groomed’ to act out violently by his mother. This included threatening a clinical psychologist with a knife. The outbursts resulted in him being hospitalised on several occasions. Doctors there noted he was unmedicated and did not display any antisocial behaviour, despite having video contact with his father, whom he accused of having abused him. The experts noted the child seemed to ‘parrot’ the allegations of abuse in a singsong voice, including saying ‘he burnt my hand, threw me in a river with crocodiles and strangled me’. When pressed for detail, he said they must ask his mother. The experts noted the children call their stepfather ‘dad’ and their biological father ‘a*****e’.

The clinical psychologist and curator also questioned the roles played by the mother's attorney and some health professionals in the ongoing alienation of the father, who has not had meaningful interaction with his children for five years. Psychologist Francois de Marigny, in his report, said the legal system had failed. According to TimesLIVE, a previous attempt by the father to gain unsupervised access to his sons in 2016 had been dismissed due to a lack of urgency. He said he had consulted with the two boys. The younger one had no recollection of any abuse of his brother, saying only his mother had told him about it and had told him his dad was a ‘bad man’. The older one also said his father was a ‘bad dad’ and a drug addict who had abused him. He was confused about how old he was when the abuse allegedly took place. De Marigny said both were subjected to significant psychological and possibly physical abuse at the hands of the mother. While the family advocate had reported favourably about the father, the mother had refused to accept the report. She and her attorney had obstructed the reunification processes being conducted by psychologist Clive Willows. De Marigny reported Willows had initiated video contact between the elder boy and his father. It was recorded. The father had been ‘gentle, attuned and sensitive’. Vahed this week granted a comprehensive order including that the children must be removed from their mother. They are to with their father and be enrolled at a local school. He ordered the Family Advocate to conduct an inquiry and report back to the court. The mother has been interdicted from making any disparaging comments about their father during what will be supervised video visits.