Abusive father denied direct contact with child
Domestic abuse can obviously have terrible consequences for the victim, and the perpetrator may also suffer severe consequences due to their actions, as a recent case has demonstrated.
And here, the consequences related to a father’s relationship with his daughter, who was born in 2020.
The background to the case was that the parents were married in 2019 and separated in 2022. In May 2023 the mother applied to the court for a child arrangements order in relation to the child, and in August 2023 the court ordered that the child should live with the mother.
Within the proceedings the mother made various allegations of domestic abuse against the father. The father, in turn, alleged that the mother had prevented him from having a relationship with the child.
The court fixed a fact-finding hearing, to determine the truth of each party’s allegations. The hearing took place in March this year.
The judge found the mother’s allegations to be proved. The father had subjected the mother to physical abuse, emotional abuse, psychological abuse, and coercive control. He had also subjected the child to emotional abuse, and had exposed the child to his abuse of the mother.
The father’s allegation, on the other hand, was not proved. The mother had not done anything to prevent the child from having a relationship with him.
The case then proceeded to a final hearing in August this year, when the court would decide what orders to make, in the light of the findings it had made against the father.
The father wanted the court to order that the child live with him for half of the time. However, not only was the court not prepared to agree to this, ordering that the child should remain living with the mother, the court was also not prepared to allow the father to have any direct contact with the child. The only contact that he could have was indirect, by way of emails, letters, cards, photographs or presents.
But the consequences for the father did not end there.
In addition, the court made a specific issue order permitting the mother to make all decisions about the child’s education and healthcare without the need for input and consent from the father, save for any experimental medical treatment in respect of a life-threatening condition. The judge stated that this order was necessary to prevent the father from subjecting the mother and the child to coercive and controlling behaviour in relation to the exercise of parental responsibility.
And further to that, the court made an order barring the father from making any application to the court in relation to the child, without first obtaining the permission of the court. And if the father did wish to make any such application he would have to show that he had completed a Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Programme, a course aimed at reducing the incidence of domestic violence by changing the attitudes, behaviours and beliefs of perpetrators.
The fact-finding judgment in the case can be found here, and the final judgment is here.
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