THIS week almost a year ago 17-year-old Carmelita* asked the high court in Cape Town to be emancipated from her parents.

She claimed her father was too strict - boyfriends, MXit and even Harry Potter books were not allowed.

Carmelita's case made headlines when she used the justice system rule that she live independently as an adult before the age of 18.

On Wednesday her case will be heard in the Western Cape high court after several postponements.

In an exclusive interview with The Times, her parents said the past year had been a nightmare.

All Manuel* and Christina* want is their youngest daughter back but to add to their woes, their team of attorneys have withdrawn from the case.

"I just want the matter to be argued in court so the judge can either grant her emancipation or not," Manuel said.

In July law firm Deneys Reitz came to Manuel and Christina's rescue to oppose Carmelita's application - after their first lawyer had withdrawn. Deneys Reitz also later withdrew.

The latest to drop the case is advocate Dirk Uijs SC, who recently sought leave from Judge Dennis Davis to withdraw. He too had rendered his services for free.

In February Judge Davis granted Carmelita an interim order - she would move to a friend's house 10km away from home while she and her family underwent counselling.

In August the judge granted another order. This time she had to return home and would only spend weekends with her host family.

But there were conditions - Manuel had to pay R300 to his daughter's guardian every month, he had to take her to a psychologist regularly and the family had to attended sessions at the Family and Marriage Association of SA (Famsa).

But Manuel said he has recently stopped paying the R300.

He said: "My wife and I are not employed. I am afraid that I don't know what my child is doing at weekends as she has been placed in the care of a stranger."

Christina said: "This is devastating. I have lost so much weight."

In court papers it surfaced that in December last year Carmelita and her father had a heated altercation.

Manuel told the court Carmelita, who is at a vulnerable age, was not allowed to use MXit to speak to strangers or have a boyfriend. When he found text messages from a boy on her cellphone he took it away.

Carmelita said: "He said he'd no longer give me pocket money to which I replied: 'Then you don't have to'. He told me not to talk to him like that and hit me with an open hand."

Manuel told the court that as parents they had only been trying to deal with a "rebellious teenager".

But Carmelita said she felt emotionally and physically abused by her parents. "I want to be emancipated," she said in court papers.

*Not their real names.