Judgment handed down in the JHB HC by Adams J.
It is the case of the applicant (father) in this matter that the minor child (5-years old) should be returned to her country of “habitual residence” in Eilat, Israel, from where she was in 2021 unlawfully removed to SA and wrongfully retained by the respondent (mother). From March 2021 to date, the child has been living in SA, and, as per the curator ad litem’s findings, she has settled into her life, home and new environment in JHB. She resides with the respondent and her parents, and she attends Yeshiva College Nursery School. She only speaks English, is happy and thriving, and has no recollection of her life in Israel.
With resistance of the Central Authority, the applicant applied in these opposed proceedings in terms of the Hague Convention on the Civil aspect of International Child Abduction for an order directing the respondent to return the child to Israel.
The court accepted the respondent’s version in that she clearly told the applicant that she was returning to SA to live with her family, and the applicant signed the requisite parental consent letter required by the Department of Home Affairs. Furthermore, the court noted that the Hague application was issued by the first applicant in August 2023, almost two and a half years after the respondent and the minor child arrived in SA. On the basis of the curator’s findings there is a grave risk that the minor child’s return to Israel would expose her physical or psychological harm or otherwise place her in an intolerable situation.
The application was dismissed with costs.