Sambou Moulay Darboe, a Sweden-based Gambian, has become increasingly popular in his Malmö town for his fight to gain access to his daughter, Malaika.
Sambou is in a continuous battle with his ex-girlfriend, Therese Eriksson, who she accused of blocking contact between him and their 17-year-old daughter.
“My ex-girlfriend is making life hell for me. She told the social workers that I raped her and also accused me of bringing men in my apartment to sleep with Malaika,” he said in a telephone interview with What’s On-Gambia.
The Gambian met the Swede in Malmö in 1997. According to Sambou, it was a whirlwind relationship that went downhill after the birth of Malaika. They finally parted in 2011 and the battle to gain custody of his daughter started.
“She made the authorities believe that I am a violent man who is unfit to play the role of a father. My daughter once came to stay with me, but she was later taken away and the reason they gave was that she needed psychiatric attention.”
Sambou, a former police officer, who moved to Sweden in 1976, believes that the social workers are not listening to him because he is black.
“I was arrested by the police multiple times and sometimes maltreated,” he said. “My ex-girlfriend is bent on making life difficult for me. Could you imagine this woman would sometimes spit on me and call me all types of names?”
The Bansang-born revealed that he has seven children with different Swedish women. His first child, a daughter, is now 34 years old. He met her mum in a nightclub in Malmö.
But why is Sambou only interested in Malaika and not the other six children?
He responded: “Malaika and her brother were born in my presence and I was part of their upbringing, unlike the other five children. The boy lives with his mum and Malaika is supposed to be with me. I am very close to her. She is a smart girl that read a lot about Malcom X.”
Malaika has been in foster care since on the 22nd May, 2014, when the police and social workers took her away from her father’s apartment.
“They claimed she has autism. But I don’t think this is true and even my daughter denied having autism. They just want to separate us,” said Sambou.
According to the father-of-seven, he wants her daughter back.