An alleged deadbeat dad who was jailed by a Magistrate without a court hearing has been freed by a judge after a special appeal hearing.

Copeland Smith spent six days at Westgate over unpaid child support before Justice Richard Ground ruled that he should not have been committed by Magistrate Tyrone Chin without an opportunity to put his case.

During Thursday's hastily-convened hearing at Supreme Court, Mr. Smith, 40, from Pembroke, complained he was arrested at work on March 7 despite being "slightly ahead" in paying child support arrears.

"I didn't know anything about arrears," he told the Chief Justice, saying his wife took receipts proving this to Magistrates' Court after he was locked up.

Mr. Justice Ground apologised to Crown Counsel Huw Shepheard, representing Child and Family Services, for calling the appeal hearing at short notice.

However, he explained: "When it was drawn to my attention that he was committed without a hearing it seemed to me that I should intervene."

The Chief Justice said he had printouts demonstrating that Mr. Smith had arrears of $11,250.

"That is something that should have been inquired into by the Magistrate... he would have access to the files and could inspect receipts and so on. In the circumstances it seems to me appropriate to quash the committal. Then, if having checked their records, the Magistrates' Court wish to proceed on the pursual of the arrears they can go through proper procedures," he told Mr. Shepheard.

Turning to Mr. Smith, he added: "If there had been a hearing before the Magistrate this could have been sorted out."

Edward Tavares, treasurer for ChildWatch, a family advocacy group, said Mr. Smith's situation proves a culture of inequity exists within the courts as well as legislation governing family laws.

"It's not good because we don't want to lock up mothers and fathers and that's not proper — all should have a proper hearing," he reacted.

"(Every father) has a right to his own justice, which is the right to bring forward his concerns… and usually the courts don't want to hear the reasons, and they don't have the time because they deal with so many cases.

"And there's a stigma attached (when a parent is jailed)… yes, the child needs support and so forth, but mothers are equally supposed to be supporting and parents should be equally sharing custody.

"Usually, the judges don't look at the contributions of the mother — it's just the father who has to pay and that mentality is wrong.

"By simply incarcerating fathers, that doesn't solve anything because he will be in more arrears once he is released — there's no justice in that sense.

"Unfortunately, for some parents (getting child support) it's all about having an ATM machine for them."

Mr. Tavares added that situations like these are the reason why Bermuda must urgently adopt legislation implementing shared parenting, as already in place in Australia and Denmark.

Since its inception, ChildWatch has been pushing for Government and the courts to adopt shared parenting legislation, while it raises awareness on the consequences of parental alienation.

On Thursday, ChildWatch submitted evidence on the benefits of shared parenting to a special committee which was taking suggestions from the public on revising current laws on family and parenting in Bermuda.

It was the public's last chance to weigh in on the possible reforms and it was chaired by Puisne Judge Charles-Etta Simmons.

On April 25, thanks to the lobbying of ChildWatch, Bermuda will officially observe Parental Alienation Day, which has the backing of Minister of Culture and Social Rehabilitation Dale Butler.