Businessman sentenced after sending people to retrieve estranged wife’s Mercedes
A Western Cape High Court judge found that a Cape Town businessman breached a Rule 43 order by sending people to retrieve a Mercedes-Benz made available to his estranged wife and their children. He received a fully suspended 30-day prison sentence and a punitive costs order.
A Cape Town businessman has been sentenced to 30 days in prison for breaching a court order that required him to provide his estranged wife and their children with access to her Mercedes-Benz. Judge M Francis suspended the sentence for two years on condition that he continues to allow the vehicle to be used by his wife and children and does not violate the court's interdict.
The businessman and his wife are involved in a lengthy divorce proceeding in the Western Cape High Court, and the Mercedes-Benz is registered in the name of the businessman's close corporation, CA Cellular Holdings CC, of which he is the sole member. The court granted a Rule 43 order in May 2021, requiring him to keep the vehicle available for the use of his wife and their two minor children while the divorce proceedings were ongoing.
The dispute intensified in February 2026 after the businessman crashed the vehicle while exercising contact with the children. The businessman claims he did not authorize anyone to retrieve the vehicle and that the order should no longer apply due to his own vehicle being damaged and his wife purchasing a new car. However, the court found that the businessman had been aware of the obligations under the Rule 43 order and had authorized someone to collect the vehicle on its behalf.
The court rejected the businessman's argument that circumstances had changed and that it provided a defense to the contempt proceedings.
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