The names of parents involved in court proceedings concerning arrangements for their children will not normally be published, in order to protect the privacy of the children concerned.
However, in a recent case, the Family Court took the unusual step of permitting the publication of the name of the father, following findings of serious abuse.
The case concerned the father’s application for contact with his daughter.
Responding to the application, the mother raised serious allegations of domestic abuse against the father.
The court arranged a ‘fact-finding’ hearing, to consider the mother’s allegations. The judge made a number of significant findings against the father, including coercive and controlling behaviour, three occasions of having sex with the mother without her consent and a further occasion of attempting to have sex with the mother without her consent.
Despite these findings, the court ordered that the father should have unsupervised contact with the child, although that order was overturned on appeal.
After the appeal, two journalists applied to the court for permission to name the father, arguing that their right to freedom of expression outweighed the father’s right to respect for private and family life. The applications were supported by the mother, but opposed by the father.
Hearing the applications, His Honour Judge Moradifar said that the child’s interest was the court’s primary consideration. Obviously, the child may suffer harm as a result of her father being named in this way. However, Judge Moradifar felt that the risk could not simply be assumed, and that the mother was best placed to manage the child’s understanding of her father’s behaviour.
Judge Moradifar also felt that the facts of the case demonstrated a “compelling public interest argument that prevented the abuser shielding behind his/her rights or those of a child which prevent him/her from being publicly identified.”
In the circumstances, Judge Moradifar was satisfied that public interest demanded that the father was fully identified by his full names. Accordingly, he granted the applications, whilst making clear that neither the mother nor the child should be publicly identified.
You can read the full report of the case here.
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