An Acting Judge of the Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg has expressed his concerns following claims that the mother of a 6-year-old boy is allegedly exposing him to harmful conduct.
This is said to include exposing him to belly dancers “dancing seductively for money” while she attended a party.
The child’s parents were divorced in 2022 and the little boy is residing with his mother.
His concerned father turned to court for an order which included that various experts had to investigate whether the child is being exposed to an environment which is not conducive to him and then to recommend what is in the best interest of the child.
A criminal investigation is meanwhile also being undertaken following allegations that the child has been sexually assaulted by a 19-year-old male family member.
An educational psychologist and expert in sexual abuse cases, is also conducting an investigation into whether the child has been exposed to any sexual conduct.
Following her assessments of the child, the psychologist expressed grave concerns regarding the mothers ability to care for the boy.
The experts involved called for a further urgent forensic assessment of the child in light of the allegations against the mother. She, however, refused to co-operate to commence the forensic assessment, claiming that the criminal matter needed to come to completion first.
This prompted the father to now turn to court.
Acting Judge KL Meikle said having had regard to the psychologist report, he is gravely concerned by the contents thereof as to the mother’s ability to care for the child and what is in his best interest, pending the final reports being presented to court at a later stage.
The judge said it is extremely worrisome that in her preliminary report, the psychologist claimed that the mother was exposing the child to explicit and sexual conduct whilst he sleeps in the bed next to her.
While the judge did not expand on the nature of this, he noted that this may constitute a criminal offence.
It was also noted that the mother had delegated her parental responsibilities and rights to the child’s former nanny – who is no longer in the mother’s employ.
Some of her other preliminary findings were that the mother was not interested in the educational progress of the child and did not feed him nutritious food.
Also included in the allegations against the mother is that she puts the child in her own bed at night and then keeps him awake until late into the night watching horror movies.
It is said that she allows the boy to watch and play games which are age inappropriate with sexual content and which leads to violent thoughts and tendencies.
According to the psychologist the mother “relies on technology” to parent the child and has admitted that she gives in to whatever he wants as it is the easiest course of action.
While the father did not at this stage ask to have custody of the child, the court decided that pending the final reports regarding the best interests of the child, the mother immediately had to hand over the boy to his father.
“It goes without saying that when it comes to considerations as to what is in the best interests of a minor child, a court cannot have a “wait and see” attitude, particularly in the light of what is contained in the (psychologist) report,” the judge said.
The Offices of the Family advocate has meanwhile been instructed to also conduct an urgent assessment as to what is in the best interests of the boy.
Pretoria News