Angry father accuses defiant baby mama of contempt of court
A frustrated father, unable to see his child as the court allowed, has dragged the baby's mother to court for contempt.
Sakhile Arnold Sikhakhane summoned Talitha Ruele to the Gaborone High Court on Friday last week to explain why she did not let the child spend time with his father in accordance with the court order.
The couple separated in July 2023 and began fighting over their one-year-old child. On September 27, 2023, Judge Barnabas Nyamadzabo granted Sikhakhane unhindered access to his child and ruled that the baby could stay in his father's house all three days a week.
However, Sikhakhane told the court that contrary to the court order, he was denied access to the child and that he last saw him on December 6, 2023.
He said he traveled to South Africa from August 18 to 21, 2023 for a church event called “Mokete”. The trip followed a religious custom, called “go ilela” in Setswana, which apparently prohibits involvement in a conflict for about a week after the event, which is why he was unable to contact the mother of his baby at the time. However, soon after the end of the Go Ilela period in late August, Sikhakhane asked to see the child but was denied access.
“During this week I have avoided talking to my baby mama because she is confrontational. Before I left, we had a dispute about my son's visitation rights. She had given me the condition that she had to accompany him to my house so that I could see the child.”
In her defense, Ruele argued that Sikhakhane had been rude to her and her parents and that was why she blocked his calls on her cell phone.
Meanwhile, Sikkhakhane's lawyer, who is also his father, Herbert Sikhakhane, told the court that on January 23, 2024, he wrote a letter to Ruele's lawyer Kagisano Tamocha to advise his client to comply with the court order.
He said their response was that they were aware they were threatening to go to court for contempt of court and warned them that the charge would be vigorously defended.
Judge Nyamadzabo will hand down the contempt verdict on March 19.
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