Case No. ZC20C00674

i)The arrangements for the care of KB changed when the Coronavirus pandemic began and lockdown restrictions were introduced. The Day Centre closed and KB lived with AB in the family home full time. JK stopped visiting; CD lived in the flat, EF was busy with his studies and going to the gym, and AB assumed all the care responsibilities for KB. Such were KB’s disabilities that she would need assistance with personal care including at the time of her periods. The rape must have taken place in late February or very early March 2020 given the subsequent dating of the pregnancy. AB consulted KB’s GP about missed periods for the first time by an e-consult (online form) on 30 July 2020. By then KB must have missed at least four and possibly five periods. AB wrote on the form completed on 30 July 2020, that the first day of KB’s last menstrual period had been on 22 May 2020. This cannot have been correct.ii)On the same day, Thursday 30 July, a telephone consultation took place. AB told the GP that there had been “several months” of amenorrhoea, and that KB “used to have slightly irregular periods, but was every month before this … not sexually active and never has been but noticed breasts are swollen and stomach is swollen.” I take this to be reliable evidence that KB’s periods had been regular for some time prior to March 2020. The GP’s advice was to do a pregnancy test and to call back if positive. The test was done, and repeated, and both were positive but AB did not call the GP back. Instead she, and CD and EF (who knew of the positive test on 30 July but were not party to the advice given to AB by the GP) waited until the arranged appointment on Monday 3 August. At that appointment it was recorded “AB seemed initially cheerful in the consultation – stated she would have to look after the baby and that she was glad KB was not suffering from any sickness … [she] seemed to be expecting KB to continue the pregnancy.” The GP pointed out that as KB was unable to consent to sexual intercourse “we would be concerned about rape” which “seems to have come as a shock to AB.” In relation to KB’s periods, it is recorded by the GP that “she knows sometimes periods can be irregular and that is why she did not think about it much more since then and only after noticing the stomach swelling and breast swelling she thought something is not right.” iii)Dr Clarke, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, told the court that she would not be surprised at all that AB did not know KB was pregnant as it was the last thing she would have imagined. No-one ever expected KB to be pregnant and that lack of expectation will have affected their views as to why she had missed her periods and put on weight. The senior GP at the practice also gave evidence saying that he believed it would be “possible to miss [that KB was pregnant] at this stage in the pregnancy.” He thought that given KB’s normal weight it would be possible even at 24 weeks pregnancy not to notice that KB was pregnant from her physical appearance.iv)In her police interview AB said that she thought something might be “wrong” with KB in May and that she tried to make an appointment at the GP but was unable to do so. There is no record of any contact with the GP surgery in May 2020 but there were unrelated e-consultations made by AB in June and early July 2020 with no mention of concerns about missed periods. I find that AB did not, as she says she recalls, contact the GP surgery about KB’s missed periods in May 2020. She may have thought about doing so but she did not actually make contact.v)CD had no dealings with KB’s personal care from about the beginning of March to the end of July 2020. She would have seen KB but I have already noted the senior GP’s view about KB’s physical appearance. I accept her evidence that AB did not tell her that KB had missed a number of her periods.vi)Several professionals noted that AB’s attitude to the discovery of KB’s pregnancy was strikingly complacent. She did not seem alarmed or concerned for KB but, rather, appeared to be happy or at least remarkably resigned to the fact that she was going to have a baby. The Local Authority contends that AB’s attitude indicates that she had known about, and become reconciled to, the pregnancy for some time before alerting healthcare professionals. AB’s response to questioning about this during the hearing, supported by CD and EF, was that she had spent much of KB’s life being determinedly positive so as to avoid distress to KB. Also, her Christian faith and general personality gave her strength to present a cheerful demeanour even in difficult circumstances. She would put on a “mask” to present to the world. There may also have been an element of denial and an inability to confront the implications of the pregnancy including that KB had been raped.vii)The Local Authority initially sought to rely on evidence that a list of boy’s names had been found on AB’s computer, apparently downloaded prior to the diagnosis of the pregnancy. This, it contended, suggested that AB knew of the pregnancy at an earlier date. However, in large part due to investigations by CD, ultimately the Local Authority has accepted that it cannot rely on that evidence to prove that AB or CD knew of or suspected the pregnancy prior to the end of July 2020. It does maintain that allegation but does not rely on the list of names as evidence to prove it.viii)Weighing all the evidence with care - some of which tends to show that AB is likely to have known of the pregnancy before the positive tests, some of which tends to show that AB is not likely to have known of the pregnancy before that time - I am not persuaded that on the balance of probabilities AB deliberately hid KB’s pregnancy knowing that she was pregnant. Neither am I persuaded that CD participated in KB’s personal care in February to July 2020 and would have known from dealing with KB’s personal care that she had missed her periods from March 2020 onwards. I accept that for CD the news of the pregnancy at the end of July 2020 was a complete surprise. ix)By the end of May 2020 AB will have known that KB had missed her periods for three months having recently had regular periods. KB may have had some irregularity in her menstrual cycle previously but AB told KB’s GP in August 2020 that more recently KB’s periods had been regular up to the point where she stopped having them. I accept AB’s evidence that it did not cross her mind that KB had missed her periods because she was pregnant. She had no basis for believing that KB had engaged in sexual intercourse. I have found that GH raped KB when AB was absent and that AB was not aware of what had happened at the time or in the aftermath. It was unthinkable to her that KB might be pregnant. I accept her evidence that she initially thought that KB had just missed her periods because from time to time that can happen and because KB’s periods had been irregular in the past. Nevertheless, by the end of May it was evident that KB had a health issue having not had a period for three months. Furthermore, on the basis of AB’s oral evidence, it appears that by the end of June 2020 she noticed that KB was putting on weight. I accept AB’s evidence that she ultimately thought that KB might have fibroids rather than that she might be pregnant, but AB was able to contact the GP’s surgery, including using their on-line referral system, and she should have done so by the end of June 2020 given the several missed periods and unexplained weight gain. I emphasise that I accept that it did not cross AB’s mind that KB might be pregnant until very close to or at the time when the pregnancy was confirmed. CD told me, and I accept, that AB did not discuss the missed period with her. She did discuss KB’s weight gain which AB thought might be due to fibroids and CD thought might be due to a bowel problem. I do not criticise CD for failing to ensure medical advice or attention was secured for KB before the end of July 2020.42.