Former Springbok hooker James Dalton and his wife, Andrea, who are involved in a bitter divorce battle, reached an interim settlement on Monday.
The couple made national headlines when Andrea Dalton (49) launched an urgent application in the Pretoria High Court for a protection order against James (35), who she claimed physically and mentally abused her.
She sought an order not only to stop him from communicating with her, but also to interdict him from entering their luxury home in Silverlakes in the east of Pretoria and to change the locks at his costs to keep him out.
Andrea further asked that James be ordered either to reactivate his bank accounts so that she could withdraw funds to maintain herself and their three domestic workers, or that he should pay her R30 000 per month. She also wanted him to return a BMW550 to her, or to provide her with a roadworthy car.
Andrea claimed in court papers that James had during their four-year marriage pushed a firearm against her head, pressed a knife to her throat and given her a black eye.
She said the final straw was when he tried to drown her in the bath and smother her with a dress because she refused to take him to a golf day because he was ”intoxicated and smelt of alcohol”. She filed an attempted murder charge against him after the incident.
She said he had ”numerous” affairs with other women during their marriage and ”frequently visited strip clubs, took drugs and only got home after six in the morning, whereafter he took a sleeping pill and went to sleep during the day”.
He also did not take responsibility for their pets, including three large dogs, six cats, a bird, and 20 goldfish and Koi.
James, an unrehabilitated insolvent, insisted that the house and car were registered in his mother’s name. He denied Andrea’s claims of abuse, insisting that her only purpose was to ”lure him into a matrimonial settlement”.
”The applicant and I had what people have in a bad marriage. There was verbal abuse on both sides. We had various arguments during which the applicant assaulted me. I retaliated by pushing her away. I deny ever having assaulted her … I find it strange that the applicant who avers that I am an abusive monster stayed married to me for a period of four-and-a-half years …
”We were involved in a serious argument [on the morning of November 16]. I deny, however, that I tried to drown or suffocate her,” he said.
James added he had no interest in contacting his wife.
The couple, with the help of their legal counsel on Monday, managed to reach an interim settlement, but mutually agreed that the settlement, as well as further court papers, would remain confidential and that they would not talk to the press about it.
Their legal representatives told reporters they would try their best to sort out the couple’s further disputes. — Sapa