Cape Town – A father who failed to appear in court three times, as his teenage son’s guardian, was fined R800 or 10 days imprisonment on Thursday on a charge of contempt of court.
The son, aged 17, is charged with possession of dagga, but may not be identified as he is regarded as a juvenile. For the same reason, the father may not be identified either, as it would lead to the identity of his son.
The grey-haired father, no age given, was brought before the Strand District Court on Thursday, from the police holding cells. He appeared before magistrate Karen Scheepers, who gave him a severe dressing down for his three failures to appear in court.
She said his absence from court, as his son’s guardian, had delayed the proceedings, and had also cluttered the court record.
The father said he had been working in Paarl, and had requested his fiancé to attend the proceedings on his behalf – but without prior arrangements with the court.
The father said: “I apologise for not coming to court.”
The son, who also had to be in court on Thursday, to answer to the dagga charge, was absent.
The magistrate asked the father where his son was. He replied: “I don’t know – I told him to be here today.” The magistrate said it was a matter of “like father like son”. It transpired that the father had in fact been present in court the day before (Wednesday), when the boy also had to appear, but was absent, and that the father had left the court without first being formally excused.