Ex-soccer star's son takes a stand about custody
A retired SA football star and his ex-wife are embroiled in a custody battle over their son, but the boy has made his wishes clear.
|||Pretoria - The teenage son of a retired South African football star and his socialite ex-wife has asked to join in the legal proceedings between his parents, who are embroiled in a tug-of- war over his custody.
The family may not be named to protect the minor.
Both parents claim they are best placed to take care of the 15-year-old.
But he made his wishes clear in papers before the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, that he wanted to stay with his father. The child, in fact, felt so strongly about this that he told an advocate he wanted the opportunity to inform the judge personally where his loyalties lay.
An advocate was appointed to be the voice of the child, regarded to be old enough to be able to express his wishes as to which parent he wanted to live with.
A family advocate was appointed by the court on Monday to urgently investigate who was the most suitable parent to look after the teenager. The family advocate must report back to the court within six weeks.
The court ruled that the boy could remain with his father, although the mother obtained custody when the couple got divorced some years ago. She may phone him three times a week.
In terms of the order, the teenager would also be assessed so as to determine what is in his best interests.
No strangers to the courts and at times quite vocal about their dislike for each other, the parents are accusing each other of abusing alcohol and taking drugs.
Allegations of drunken debauchery and drug abuse are flying between them, but both parents claim they are the most suitable to look after the boy.
The former football star, who lives in Pretoria, admitted his wife had custody over the boy, but said in court papers that she did not have a stable home environment and that she subjected the child to the use of dagga. This was strongly denied by the mother.
He was also extremely upset that she had allowed the child to get a tattoo during the past school holidays, but the mother said she did not have a choice.
The boy came to stay with his father during the June/July winter holidays and did not return to his mother, who let him be. But she said in court papers that was because her ex-husband did not pay her maintenance as per their previous court order and she thus did not have money to return the boy to her.
Prompted by his father, he went to visit his mother in Cape Town during the October holidays. She did not allow him to return to his father in Pretoria, but the former footballer helped the child to return.
This was without the knowledge of the mother, who at first reported the boy missing, and then laid a charge against the father.
In the latest court papers, the boy, through his advocate, said he wanted nothing to do with his mother. He said he felt loved and at peace at his father’s house.
zelda.venter@inl.co.za
Pretoria News