A South African doctor who “abducted” her young son from Denmark and returned to SA in September last year, “disappearing without trace” some months later, has been declared a fugitive from justice.
And in an unusual order granted in the Durban high court on Friday by judge Rashid Vahed, at the behest of the child’s Danish father, Bjarne Sorensen, the police have been directed to list and circulate his ex-wife’s name, Kalavani Moodley, on the national criminal record system, and use all technology available to find her and bring her to court to explain why she should not go to jail for defying court orders.
The police have to report to the court by the end of the month on their progress.
Moodley, who has hired and fired five sets of lawyers in SA, has been labelled by a social worker as an “obsessed alienator”.
She was in court in early February, facing contempt proceedings for refusing to let Sorensen see the child. The judge told her to fetch the child, now aged four, immediately.
She left court and has not been seen since. Neighbours said the Chatsworth house where she was staying with her mother has been locked up.
Sorensen left SA alone that same evening.
An investigator hired by Sorensen has found no trace of Moodley or her mother.
A criminal complaint was lodged in March, but the investigating officer reportedly told the private investigator he was “inundated” with more serious cases. However, in an affidavit filed on Friday, he said he had been investigating the matter “diligently”.
“He [his son] has been missing for nine months now,” Sorensen said in his affidavit.
“I have no idea if he is being properly cared for. For all I know he may not even be alive. It is the worst thing for a parent to have to endure, not knowing where your child is.”
The couple met in 2015, married later that year and moved to Denmark. The child was born in August 2016.
The couple divorced in April 2019. In September 2019 Moodley asked to travel to SA for a funeral. Sorenson agreed, but soon Moodley broke off contact with him. Sorensen received a lawyer’s letter saying she would not return.
Sorensen began legal proceedings and in February judge Peter Olsen ruled that the child had been “abducted” and must return to Denmark. As part of a reunification process, the judge ordered that the child spend time with his father at a local park the following day, under the supervision of social worker Kubesh Reddy.
Reddy, in a report to court, said Moodley clung to the child, refused to let him go and caused a scene.
Reddy said: “[She] is doing everything within her power to alienate the child from the father,” that she had “complete disrespect for the law” and “I have no doubt she will not return him to Denmark”.
The next day, when an order for the return of the child was to be negotiated, Moodley left court and has not been seen since.
Citing authorities, the social worker said “an obsessed alienator had a fervent cause to destroy the targeted parent”.
“They have no insight into how this hurts the child. It is very common for them to shop for attorneys who support their cause, but when questioned as to their motives, the attorney is usually fired and the alienator begins shopping again.”
Attorney Benita Ardenbaum, who represented Sorensen along with an advocate, Stuart Humphrey, said: “My client is feeling a little bit more confident that the wheels of justice will start turning now. But he is still distraught. He says all he can think about all day long is getting his child home.”
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