Durban - A Durban High Court judge acted swiftly on Thursday to get legal representation for two children who were caught up in their parents’ “sordid and sadistic” lifestyle.
Judge Kate Pillay also ordered that the Family Advocate’s Office prepare a report by next week when the application by their mother for their return – after they were “snatched” by their father – would be back before her.
The mom said the two children were taken from her earlier this month when her estranged husband obtained an interim protection order which, she said, was granted by a court “which did not have jurisdiction to either remove the children from my care or award him interim sole care and primary residence”.
The father, who is a businessman, is opposing the application and has denied all the allegations against him.
At the request of his advocate, Sian Clarence, the judge barred The Mercury from seeing the file in the matter after his affidavit was put in it. The judge also ordered that brief argument in court be heard in camera after the advocate said the issue was “highly sensitive”.
Advocate Megan Konigkramer, for the mother, argued for an interim order returning the children immediately, but the judge said she believed a lawyer should be appointed for them first.
In her affidavit the mother detailed what she alleged to be a life of hell since she met her husband at a drug rehabilitation centre in 2003.
“I have been physically and sexually abused for the past 10 years. He has sold me for sex, has advertised me as a prostitute online and has forced me to engage in sexual activities with other men.
“He is a drug addict and a sex addict.
“The facts of my case are sordid and sadistic, but I cannot allow him to continue to abuse me. I have no alternative (but) to disclose to the court the nightmare I have been subjected to in order to protect the interests of my children.”
Her affidavit details their on-off relationship and how, when they were apart, she had nothing and was forced to sleep with men for money, and when they were together, she was at his mercy.
Even though she was clean from drugs (now for eight years), he had forced her to attend a “cult exorcism” for drug addicts.
He had placed ads in newspapers and online “selling her” and sometimes he took pictures and videos of her and clients which he also posted online.
He was constantly having affairs with other women and demanded that she participate in “three-somes”.
When she once left, he forced her to leave her child behind and she could not stay away. She came back, married him and fell pregnant again.
His “sexual fetishes” continued, but the last straw was in February this year when he stabbed her with a key in her leg.
“I told him I wanted a divorce and he said he would rather kill me first.
“Then on March 6 he arrived with the SAPS and his attorney, issued me with the interim protection order and the children were literally snatched from me whilst crying hysterically.”
She said the allegations he had made to obtain the order were “blatant lies” and she intended to oppose the order’s being made final.
In the meantime, she believed that the children should be returned to her.
Her husband’s former wives and children have put up affidavits in support of her application, confirming his addictions and saying she has always been a good mother.
The Mercury