‘Wanted criminal on the run with my boy’ December 30 2014 at 12:45pm By Anna Cox Comment on this story Copy of Copy of ST P1 main levi Thor Grover 04.JPG THE STAR Neville Grover talks about the complex legal issues he has had to deal with in getting custody of his son Levi Thor Grover, below, from his estranged wife, Kaylan Mae Niven. Picture: Antoine de Ras Johannesburg - All he wants is his son back. Neville Grover has lost 25kg and resigned from his job to search for Levi Grover, 3, who was allegedly abducted by his mother, Kaylan Mae Niven, 14 weeks ago. In terms of a court order, the child was to spend every alternate week with each parent, pending the decision of the family advocate regarding a final custody decision. On October 3, however, Niven failed to return the child. A warrant of arrest was issued against her in terms of the Children’s Act. Niven was already facing 10 charges, including identity theft, property theft and fraud, for which another warrant was issued after her disappearance, for failing to appear in court. An 11th charge of conspiracy to murder was added this month. A witness made a sworn affidavit to the police that Niven was looking for a hitman to kill Grover. IOL Thor Grover 06.JPG SUPPLIED Grover is desperate and claims the police aren’t doing much to assist him in finding the child, with police saying his son isn’t missing but is in the safe custody of his mother. Grover claims he is certain his wife’s mother is in touch with her and would know where to find her. She posted photos of Niven and Levi on Facebook after the date of her disappearance, yet still police have failed to act, he claims. Their relationship started in 2010 when Grover met Niven at a car dealership in Kempton Park that he was managing. She was a staff member and they fell in love, married and had a child, who died within a few hours of birth. After a short stint in Zambia, where the couple went to recover from the tragedy, they returned to South Africa to start again. She got a job as a commodities dealer and he stayed at home to look after her 9-year old child from a previous marriage and their new son, who was born shortly thereafter. Niven then allegedly committed fraud and identity theft by running up a phone bill in her mother-in-law Cheryl’s name totalling R18 000. Cheryl asked her to leave her house and laid charges against her. Niven went to live with a new boyfriend in a B&B in Pretoria and ran up a bill of R6 000, which the owners claimed from Grover. When he refused to pay, the owners laid charges of fraud and Niven was arrested. She spent three days in jail and was released pending further investigation. But she was immediately rearrested on the charges laid by her mother-in-law. Again she was released, pending further investigation. The custody hearings started and Grover was granted sole custody. But Niven later claimed, according to Grover, that he had abused her, although, after police investigations were concluded, no evidence of this was found. Joint custody was granted pending the family advocate’s decision. “Despite not being comfortable with this decision, I accepted this. Levi was in preschool in Benoni, but not in Pretoria, where his mother was living, and this was disruptive for him. So, since the beginning of this year, my son has made the Benoni-Pretoria trip each week while we awaited a decision from the family advocate’s office,” he said. In the meantime, the Specialised Commercial Crime Court decided to combine all 10 cases, and Niven was supposed to stand trial on October 20. Grover was hoping she would appear so he could get her arrested, but she failed to appear and a second warrant of arrest was issued. “Once this happened, the courts in Benoni stated that my son was to be declared a missing child and suggested I get help finding him. I contacted various organisations for assistance in locating my child, but the only one that took the matter seriously was the Hi5kids recovery unit. They are fantastic but are limited in what they can and can’t do.” Grover says he is disappointed with the system. “Initially, police seemed to be of some help, but they seem to have lost interest in the matter. There is a wanted criminal on the run with my child, whose life could be in danger. “No one has ever applied for a Section 205 for phone records, and I ask why is the system failing me,” Grover asked between tears. “I have done everything I possibly can, but am hitting a brick wall at all turns,” he said. Grover has not entered little Levi’s bedroom since his disappearance. “I keep the door closed and turn my head every time I walk past it. The pain is too unbearable,” he said. Police confirmed the warrants of arrest had been issued, but had not responded on claims that they were not acting on the case. [email protected] The Star
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 18:36:11 +0000