Woman sentenced to jail after failing to give ex access to child is officially off the hook

A mother who was found in contempt of court for denying the father access to their child is off the hook after the court granted a rescission on the jail time order.

The mother had twice been found guilty of flouting a Pretoria high court ruling which ordered the father to see their son on alternate weekends.

In January the court sentenced the mother to 12 months imprisonment for contempt but it was set aside when her legal representative made an urgent application to rescind the order the next day. 

She told the court in her application she was not timeously notified of the proceedings about the matter and therefore missed the hearing which led to a default judgment in favour of the father.

The court granted the urgent application pending the formal application to rescind previous contempt of court orders, which was heard on Monday.

The mother was found in contempt of court in June last year after the father filed an application where he stated he had been denied access to their child.

However, this was also rescinded when her lawyer, Koboro Jeffrey Selala, applied to set aside the order.

The default judgment was granted as the father and his lawyers did not oppose the application for rescission.

“We came here and set aside the judgment from January and have now set aside the judgment from June last year which stated she is in contempt of court. I told the father’s attorneys they had no leg to stand on when they said the mother was in contempt of court. They said they are not opposing it. The court has granted that application,” Selala told TimesLIVE.

Selala said due to their declining to oppose, this means the cost order previously granted is also set aside.

“There is no judgment against her. She is not in contempt. This means the initial order is in place, which states the father can visit the child on alternate weekends. Unfortunately, he cannot because he is out on bail for a fraud matter and his conditions are that he is not allowed near the key witness. The key witness is the mother,” Selala told TimesLIVE Premium.

The father is accused of faking his wife’s death and is facing charges of fraud which will be heard at the Pretoria magistrate's court next month.

TimesLIVE