Miss Gonzalez-Jaspe recently represented an applicant Father in the third set of s.8 Children Act proceedings where allegations of domestic abuse, including abuse of two children, were made against him.
An unusual feature of this case is that the respondent Mother’s principal allegation of physical abuse was not only in respect of a non-subject child (NSC) but was in respect of an alleged incident of which the Mother had no direct knowledge and could not, therefore, give direct evidence about. By the time the court had considered the allegations at a fact-finding hearing, the Father had been under police investigation for this allegation for some two years.
In the first set of proceedings, the Mother had alleged (inter alia) that the Father was coercive and controlling throughout, and since, their relationship. Following a fact-finding hearing in those proceedings, the Court found the allegations against the Father not proven. This allegation was being reconsidered by the Court following the decision in H-N [2021] EWCA Civ 448 which now requires the Court to focus on the wider context of whether there has been a pattern of coercive and controlling behaviour, as opposed to a list of specific factual incidents that are tied to a particular date and time, since abusive, coercive and controlling behaviour is likely to have a cumulative impact upon its victims which would not be identified simply by separate and isolated consideration of individual incidents.
In the second set of proceedings, the Mother alleged that the Father had acted inappropriately toward the subject child. She then withdrew that allegation but raised it as a continuing concern within these proceedings.
Evidence was heard over three days. Due to the Court not hearing evidence from the NSC or their mother, Miss Gonzalez-Jaspe made lengthy submissions in respect of the principal allegation which required a detailed analysis of the police and medical disclosure, multiple witness statements from the NSC’s mother, ABE interview of the NSC and police interview of the Father as well as various audio and video footage.
Miss Gonzalez-Jaspe was successful in persuading the court that the principal allegation, as alleged, was not proven. Further, the allegation of inappropriate behaviour toward the subject child, and the allegation of coercive and controlling behaviour toward the Mother were also not proven on the balance of probabilities.
Miss Gonzalez-Jaspe frequently represents parties in cases that involve serious allegations of domestic abuse and abuse toward children. She takes a sensitive but robust approach to her advocacy and client management in such matters.
