On the morning of 13 May, shortly before leaving for court, I received a message from attorney Rayaan Allom instructing me to check my email. The email stated, clearly and unequivocally:
“Today’s matter, which you do not have a right to be present in court, is for the social worker to provide her feedback and report back to the court.”
Believing this to be legally correct, I did not attend. I only discovered substantially later, after consulting another attorney, that as the initiating party/applicant I may in fact have had a duty or entitlement to attend.
Following the hearing, the father updated me regarding proceedings. According to information he provided, the social worker’s report stated that the child is in need of contact and care. He further told me that the social worker had informed the magistrate that the mother told her she had applied for a protection order against the father on the same day as the one she had applied for against me (19 Feb) and that the mother told her that she offered to withdraw the protection order application against the father on the condition that he agreed to no longer facilitate contact between me and the child. He separately expressed concern that the mother would carry out her threats. The social worker also told the magistrate that the mother then requested that she not disclose this to the court.
The father told me that his attorney, Rayaan Allom, had advised him that he had to agree to the restriction on facilitating contact between me and the child because the mother’s protection-order application against him was still pending. He also reported that Magistrate Van der Merwe had assured him the restriction would apply only until I came to see the Magistrate.
The father subsequently sent me a copy of the written court order, which expressly stated that he may not facilitate contact between me and the child.
The father went on to say that the magistrate ruled that there were to be no changes to the parenting plan and that he needed to speak with me in order to “get to the bottom of things”.
But my own attorney had prevented me from attending.
Evidence and Supporting Documents
