Former prosecutor sentenced to 60 days for defying child-maintenance order - IOL

Failing to pay maintenance for his three children and repeatedly defying court orders has landed a former prosecutor with a 60-day prison sentence for contempt of court, after he claimed his ex-wife was bitter because he had moved on and remarried.

The Bloemfontein High Court found that the former State prosecutor knew about the maintenance orders against him but chose not to comply with them, making only a few payments.

Acting Judge L Mpama said the former prosecutor did not dispute that various courts had ordered him to pay maintenance for his children.

“He does not deny non-payment. The respondent did not raise affordability as the reason for not paying maintenance. This shows he can afford to pay but elects not to,” Mpama said.

The former prosecutor and the mother of his three children have been locked in protracted litigation since their divorce in 2018, with the pair appearing before various courts over disputes relating to maintenance and their children.

Their marriage was dissolved by the Welkom Regional Court in August 2018.

Under the divorce order, the former prosecutor was granted access to the children, while his ex-wife was awarded primary care and residence.

Court papers paint a picture of a bitter relationship between the former spouses, which has spilled onto Facebook, WhatsApp and email, where they have allegedly exchanged derogatory and insulting messages.

Mpama noted that the father devoted much of his affidavit to criticising the mother for instituting various legal proceedings against him. He described her as miserable and alleged that she failed to accept that he had moved on with his life and was now remarried.

But the court found that these allegations did not provide a defence to his failure to comply with maintenance orders.

Mpama said the papers filed by both parties demonstrated the former prosecutor’s disregard for court orders and found that his failure to pay maintenance was not inadvertent.

The judge found that, in most instances, his non-compliance was deliberate and “accentuated by mala fides”.

“The respondent’s conduct shows a total disregard of children’s rights. The best interests of the children have been totally undermined by the respondent,” Mpama said.

The judge stressed that courts have a constitutional duty to protect and give effect to the best interests of children.

“The respondent violated the rights of his minor children by failing to discharge his obligation. It is of gravity that he formerly served as a prosecutor. His failure to uphold the very duties he was once entrusted to enforce constitutes a direct affront to the authority of this court.” 

The court found the former prosecutor in contempt of the 2018 divorce order and a December 2021 order requiring him to pay R6,000 a month in maintenance for the three children and for both parents to attend mediation.

The court subsequently set aside the R6,000 maintenance amount, finding that it had been ordered on an interim basis and that the children’s needs had since changed.

However, his failure to comply with the maintenance obligations remained a matter for the contempt proceedings.

“The respondent is to be committed to imprisonment for contempt of court for a period of 60 days, which sentence is suspended for a period of two years on condition that he complies with the order of divorce granted in August 2018 in respect of the maintenance of the children within 14 days of this order,” the court ruled.

The judge warned that if he failed to comply, the writ of committal could be executed.

“He should submit himself to the police who should take all necessary steps to ensure that he is delivered to the head of prison to be committed in terms of this order,” Mpama ordered.

The former prosecutor was also ordered to pay the legal costs on Scale C.