Durban - Two young children who were “snatched” by their father last week, sparking a court battle with gory details of a marriage involving prostitution and drug and sex addiction, were to be returned to their mother on Monday night.
In an order taken by consent, it was agreed that the primary residence would be with their mother while their father would have visiting rights.
A social worker is to be assigned to the family to monitor the children’s care and contact with both parents, and it has been suggested that they be referred to a psychologist for guidance about their relationship issues and “sexual proclivities”.
In her urgent application before Durban High Court Judge Kate Pillay on Thursday, the mother said the children were taken by her estranged husband after he obtained an interim protection order.
In her lengthy affidavit, she detailed the “sadistic and sordid” lifestyle the couple had led since they had met at a drug rehabilitation centre in 2003.
She alleged that her husband was a drug addict and a sex addict who had sold her for sex and forced to her participate in “threesomes”.
The judge adjourned the case until Tuesday, ordering that a lawyer be appointed for the children and the Family Advocate compile an urgent report.
In the report, which was presented to the court on Monday, advocate Sandhya Singh said she and a family counsellor, Johanna van der Westhuizen, conducted the inquiry, which involved interviewing the older child.
She said both parents admitted to taking drugs and to engaging in “socially questionable sexual practices” but agree that the children had not been exposed to this.
“There is a concern regarding their suitability as parents, yet sufficient circumstances do not currently exist to warrant the statutory removal of the children from their parents’ care. The children also have a close bond with both,” she said.
“The ongoing involvement of a social worker appears to be imperative.”
Van der Westhuizen, in her report, said the father denied being a sex addict.
He claimed that he and his wife engaged in prostitution over a period of six years and they both placed advertisements in the local newspaper to recruit clients for “three-somes”.
Asked why he had removed the children, he said his wife had attacked him in front of them, but admitted they had not been hurt or harmed.
The oldest child said he wanted to live with his mother. The younger one said nothing but clung to his mother and asked her to take him home.
The voice of the child had to be heard in terms of the Children’s Act, and they wanted to live with their mother.
“There is a standard rule in social work practice that unless all attempts to rehabilitate the parents fail, children will not be removed and placed in alternative care,” she said.
The impact of their sexual activities on the development of the children required further monitoring.
The Mercury