Moussongela girls 'safe' in UK

A London court has ruled that three daughters of accused sex offender Pedro Moussongela will remain in the United Kingdom and not be returned to their mothers in Namibia.

Judge Rachel Karp of the London Borough of Haringey dismissed an application by the Namibian mothers to have the children discharged from a care order which had placed them in the care of a guardian.

The judgement was made on 11 January but the transcript of the order was made available only yesterday.

Karp went ahead to make the order despite a request from Namibian authorities to have the judgement delayed pending a meeting between four Namibian institutions.

This meeting was to consider, among other things, whether any formal challenge was to be made or whether the Namibian authorities would provide funding for two mothers to be represented at the court proceedings in London.

One of the mothers testified by means of a video link. The girls were represented by their British guardian.

Karp said the evidence was that the girls – now aged between 13 and 14 – were now “habitually resident” in the UK despite them being Namibian citizens and their parents being in Namibia.

The children are attending school in London.

“[This] is a case with an extremely distressing and worrying background to it. The reasons why the girls found themselves in the United Kingdom had nothing to do with the behaviour or wishes of any of their mothers, but as a result of the behaviour and actions attributable to their father,” the judge said, adding that her overriding concern was the welfare of the children.

The mother of one of the girls, now 13, wanted her returned to Namibia. Although the Namibian social services found that her mother would be able to take care of her, Karp said her physical, emotional and educational needs might not be met here.

The judge said she considered each girl's needs, wishes and feelings in light of their age and understanding.

“Their strongly held wishes and feelings are a very important factor for this court, particularly when one takes into account the extraordinarily difficult background circumstances that they had to suffer when they were living in Namibia and the abuse that was meted out to them through no fault of any of their mothers,” the judge said.

She said the girls understandably “may have such a lack of confidence that their mothers would be able to safely parent them because of the background and personal histories they have”.





She said the relationship between the girls and their mothers had broken down completely despite attempts to establish telephonic contact.

In accordance with the judgement parental responsibility will be held by the local authority of Haringey and the girls will continue to live with their foster carer while having contact with their half-siblings and nephew.



Background

The three girls first came to the attention of the local authority when they were found wandering the streets in London in early October 2015 with a note that read: “Please help these kids find their sister.”

The three girls were later moved to a long-term foster home.

One of the mothers of the girls is suing Moussongela, the father of the girls, for allegedly kidnapping her daughter. Multiple charges of human trafficking, rape and assault against Moussongela remain pending in the Windhoek and Ondangwa lower courts.

CATHERINE SASMAN