Deserted mothers seek court help

By TONY PALME
SEEKING the court’s help to settle maintenance for children is becoming a common problem for many parents, the Mt Hagen District Court has observed.
Magistrate Lydia Karre said that a lot of women were abandoned by their husbands.
The wives were put in difficult financial situations and they could not cater for the needs of the children.
One particular woman from Western Highlands told the court that her husband left her in 2014 after marrying a third wife.
She was the first wife when the couple got married in 2008 but was left behind with five kids, who are now in school.
Karre heard that the woman did not receive any financial support from the departed husband to pay for the children’s school fees or assist with other needs of the kids.
The woman told the court that her husband had forgotten about her and moved to Port Moresby in 2014 with his third wife.
The man is now teaching as a deputy head master at a school in Western Highlands while his first wife is struggling to help her kids.
Karre adjourned the case and advised the woman to file an affidavit with the payslips of her former husband before a decision is made for the husband to contribute towards maintenance.
Karre adjourned other similar cases of maintenance and adoption in her hearing yesterday because most of the defendants and witnesses failed to turn up for court or the affidavits were not filed. The magistrate also cited that in some situations, the grandparents were seeking court order for maintenance because the husband and wife had separated, remarried and deserted the children, who were under the care of the grandparents.
Karre advised for payslips of the defendants if they were working, to the court before a decision is made.