This archive report was first published on 14 January 2020.
On January 14, 2020, the Judiciary released a statement clarifying the circumstances surrounding a custody case involving a young girl that had gone viral on social media.
The video, which showed the minor wailing and clinging to her father inside a courtroom, had created a false narrative that the mother had been granted full custody of the child despite neglecting the minor for years.
However, according to the Judiciary, the mother and father had been granted equal legal custody in a judgment made on September 12, 2019.
The orders issued on the matter would have been implemented as from December 1, 2019, but the father failed to comply, leading the mother to seek orders that the father respect court orders.
On January 8, 2020, the two parents appeared in court and their advocates asked for time to settle the matter out of court, with an agreement that the father would hand over the girl to the mother on January 9, 2020, under the supervision of a children officer.
It was on this day that the video was taken and uploaded on social media, with the Judiciary stating that the intention was to paint the judiciary in a bad light and reverse the decision of a court unprocedurally.
