Cape Town – Morgan Deane has to stay in South Africa because her children are here, her lawyer Leon van der Merwe said when she appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, Netwerk24 reported.
The former singer from Ireland who is still married to ex-Proteas captain Graeme Smith, was charged with violating the Immigration Act after overstaying her visa. She was locked up in a cell for a few hours in December because her visa had expired on September 5, 2015.
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"I am OK, I just want this to be over now," she said before the case got underway.
Deane arrived at the court alone, just before 09:00. Her friend Thandie Kupe joined her later.
Her appearance was brief and she left court quickly after the case was postponed, because the senior official who had to consider her representation was not available due to a family crisis.
Van der Merwe said his client was positive about the case.
"She followed all procedures, but one that she was a little late with. All the paperwork is in order now and I am sure the prosecutor will make the right decision, or at least what I consider to be the right decision," he said.
Humanitarian reasons
The representation they intended making to the State was based on humanitarian reasons.
"She is married to Graeme Smith and they have two children. How on earth can they tell her she doesn’t have the right to be in the country? Is she not allowed to be here, but her children have to stay here?"
She wanted to be with her children, even though her parents were not in the country.
"And the sun shines here, and not in Ireland," he added.
Smith became a father for the third time on December 21, when he and his girlfriend Romy Lanfranchi had a son.
Smith and Deane got married in Cape Town in August 2011 and have two children together.
According to Deane, their divorce would be finalised in March. She wrote a book about their relationship called The Green Girls Guide to Divorce.