{"id":230084,"date":"2024-04-28T15:44:36","date_gmt":"2024-04-28T15:44:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dominiclevent.com\/blog\/?p=230084"},"modified":"2024-04-28T15:44:36","modified_gmt":"2024-04-28T15:44:36","slug":"man-who-raped-his-wife-tried-to-convince-court-he-was-victim-of-domestic-abuse-family-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dominiclevent.com\/blog\/man-who-raped-his-wife-tried-to-convince-court-he-was-victim-of-domestic-abuse-family-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Man who raped his wife tried to convince court he was victim of domestic abuse | Family law"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A man who raped his wife and was controlling and threatening towards her and their two children attempted to manipulate the family court into believing he was a victim of domestic abuse, a judge has ruled.<\/p>\n

In a damning judgment <\/a>Judge Middleton-Roy found the man\u2019s conduct \u2013 which included frequently filming of his family using a body-worn camera \u2013 had been \u201creprehensible and unreasonable\u201d after he pursued false claims against the mother and contested her allegations against him over a prolonged period.<\/p>\n

The father, who was ordered to pay more than \u00a350,000 in costs to his ex-wife, persisted from 2020 onwards in accusing her of alienating their children \u2013 aged nine and 12 \u2013 from him in order to \u201cdistress, confuse and frighten her\u201d, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) has reported.<\/p>\n

While the father alleged the mother had turned the children against him, she claimed he had subjected both her and them to a pattern of domestic abuse. Each of the parents, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denied the other\u2019s allegations.<\/p>\n

On the first day of a trial in February to determine the dispute, the father said he was no longer pursuing allegations of \u201cparental alienation<\/a>\u201d, a term that refers to a child\u2019s unjustified rejection of one parent because of manipulation by the other.<\/p>\n

However, he proceeded to assert persistently and \u201cwith great vigour\u201d that the mother influenced the children against him, causing them harm and using them as a \u201cpattern of abuse towards me\u201d.<\/p>\n

It was put to the father that he had sent the mother a link to an article from a psychology website about parental alienation with the message: \u201cThis is you.\u201d<\/p>\n

He told the court: \u201cI sent her examples about parental alienation after she exhibited the behaviour described [in the article] because I was alarmed about what was happening. If she behaved badly, I would send these in response.\u201d<\/p>\n

Middleton-Roy said, in stark contrast to the mother, the father\u2019s evidence was \u201cdeeply troubling\u201d and \u201claced with sarcasm\u201d.<\/p>\n

The parents gave evidence about events that had occurred during their relationship and also during a period after they had separated but continued to live together with the children.<\/p>\n

In July 2021, after the couple divorced, the mother asked the court for an \u201coccupation order\u201d to remove the father from the family home. She had previously been granted a non-molestation \u2013 or restraining \u2013 order against him.<\/p>\n

At the time of her application, which was refused, the mother was representing herself while the father was represented by a lawyer. Middleton-Roy noted that because the application was dismissed by another judge, the family continued to live in the same property.<\/p>\n

During that time the father used a body-cam to record the mother and children and left iPads recording when he wasn\u2019t home. He would tell the mother she couldn\u2019t speak to the children when it was \u201chis turn\u201d for contact and locked his eldest child in their bedroom.<\/p>\n

Middleton-Roy found the father was unable to reflect on the clearest evidence of his controlling and abusive behaviour \u2013 the video he took on his body-cam during an incident where he stopped one of his children leaving their bedroom, which highly distressed them.<\/p>\n

The judge said: \u201cThe father took the decision to video record all movements in the family home. In doing so, he is hoist with his own petard.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mother\u2019s barrister, Dr Charlotte Proudman, submitted that the father sought throughout his evidence to \u201cdeflect or deny, to attack the mother and to seek to reverse the role of victim and offender\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a judgment published earlier this month, Middleton-Roy said the evidence \u201cleads to the clear conclusion the father has sought consistently, systematically and falsely to manipulate the mother, the children, professionals and the court into believing that he is the victim of domestic abuse perpetrated by the mother\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added that his \u201cpernicious actions alone\u201d led to both children, who ceased direct contact with their father in December 2022, rejecting him.<\/p>\n

The father was represented at the hearing by Dads Unlimited, a charity that supports male victims of domestic abuse. However, the court found no evidence the mother had been abusive.<\/p>\n

Instead, the court found all the allegations the father made about her to be unfounded, and upheld all but one of her allegations against him \u2013 that allegation related to the source of an email the mother received threatening to publish a sexual video of her if she did not send \u00a3500.<\/p>\n

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