Issues - Case Studies
Case 1 - A Judicial review
I, xxxxxx of xxxxxx do testify to give evidence
to the Court.
My experiences as a father are given below:
1. In October 2002 I brought my wife and two children back
to the UK after having found permanent employment in the UK.
We had been living abroad and due mainly to employment circumstances
had lived apart prior to our living together in the UK. In
November 2002 my wife accused me of domestic violence and
called the police. It was in fact she who had been violent
in front of the children. A police officer arrived and took
details from both parties and then left. Subsequent to this
I consulted a solicitor who advised me to report every act
of violence by my wife to the police and ensure that they
logged the details. This I did on various but not all occasions
and my wife was also violent and abusive to our eldest child.
The police took no action on the domestic violence or child
abuse, despite my having tape recordings of the incidents.
I was told to sort things out between us and not to call the
police as someone would be arrested. That person, I got the
impression would be me. One WPC officer excused the child
abuse as ‘kids can get on top of you sometimes’.
No action was taken regarding my wife’s violence and
abuse agaist me and our eldest child. The police have now
apologised, the existence of the tape recordings had not been
communicated to the Family Protection Unit. Charges are not
being brought against my wife due to the expiry of limitation
periods.
2. My wife subsequently in January 2003 disappeared
into a Refuge abducting the children with her. Again the police
were of no assistance.
3. I applied to the courts for residence, contact
and a prohibited steps order. My wife attended court and made
allegations of domestic violence. This resulted in my only
being allowed to see the children at a contact centre. My
wife did not turn up to the centre with the children. It was
subsequently ordered that I could have limited unsupervised
contact on Saturdays.
4. A Cafcass officers report was ordered. When
published this turned out to be biased in favour of the mother.
It was almost a simple regurgitation of her false allegations
and concluded despite my founded and provable allegations
and the admission of the mother that she had been abusive
and violent towards our eldest child, it was my fault and
the children should reside with the mother with defined contact
for the children with the father.
5. Now, residency has been awarded by the courts
to the mother with alternate weekend contact (overnight) with
me with some additional holiday contact. This order was pretty
much about what the mother and her legal team would accept.
The judge was not ashamed to announce that in all his time
as a judge he had only twice awarded shared residency orders
and was of the view that my recording of domestic violence
was wrong. Without these recordings I would not have received
an apology from the police. He was also rather derogatory
in his remarks about fathers rights groups but by inference
appeared to regard the assistance of Women’s Aid in
abducting the children in order.
6. The above is only a brief account of the
facts of my children’s situation but indicate some of
the bias within the system. Had I abducted the children in
this manner they would without doubt have been returned home
to their mother at the first hearing if not before. I was
advised on several occasions that despite my wife’s
behavioural problems and violence she would get residency
of the children. Something I have not been able to understand.
The children have been moved around the country and their
lives severely disrupted by the actions of the mother. If
they had been returned to their father they would have returned
to their then home and attended their regular school, doctors
etc. Overall and indication perhaps of the institutionalised
bias against fathers and children.
I, XXXXXX DECLARE THAT :
I believe that the facts stated are true and
that the opinions I have expressed are correct. I will swear
the contents of this statement under oath and am willing to
attend court as to give evidence.
Dated this 31st day of July 2003
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