Case No. LV21C01158

183.The mother does not accept that she has physically chastised at all. The evidence of what A said is hearsay. What the father said to police and in his oral evidence was only reported after the mother reported him for sexual abuse. His oral evidence gave a different account to his police interview. The father suggested that A could sometimes cry wolf. 184.If the Court finds that the mother has used physical chastisement, then the objective evidence would suggest that this was low level and not on the scale of causing significant harm to A. Reasonable physical chastisement is not unlawful in this jurisdiction. 185.There was no expert evidence on cultural issues. It is universally known that discipline, including physical chastisement, is tolerated in Africa. 186.The mother does not accept that she has any mental health issues. There is a real danger that professionals misunderstand the mother’s presentation due to the lack of knowledge of African culture. The mother is a devout Christian and animated in her prayers. A was used to seeing his mother praying this way and would not be distressed. 187.The assertion that the mother makes unfounded allegations that had exposed A to emotional harm failed to take account of the unchallenged expert evidence of the psychologist that the mother’s lack of understanding of English standards and culture cause her to behave in a unique way as her way of trying to solve the problem. The Court was invited to take account of the cognitive assessment, in particular D15, paragraph 7.5. No professional in this case is trained in assessing a parent who originates from an African country. 188.I have approached the mother’s evidence with real care for the following reasons: she is from Gabon, not from the UK; she speaks French and does not speak English; she has had limited experience of this country and its cultures; the report of the psychologist into her cognitive function; her religious beliefs, which I accept, may lead her to be much more animated in prayer than somebody from the UK.189.Nevertheless, I am able to assess the mother’s evidence making all due allowances. The mother was a very poor witness. She sought to maintain a case that she had never used any physical chastisement on her children and that in any event parents do not physically chastise their children in Gabon now, preferring to send them to their room. That is inconsistent with A’s reports to Social Services and to his foster carer and, more importantly, inconsistent with the observations of F. 190.In my judgment, the account that he gave to the police in interview was truthful. He had seen the mother striking A to the head and striking him too hard. He was so concerned that he had asked her to stop.191.She had recently struck him to the head shortly before his police interview. That caused A distress and led F to apply witch hazel to his head in an attempt to calm him down. 192.Whilst it is right what F said to the police followed on from the mother making allegations of sexual abuse against him, I find that during his oral evidence before me, due to the love that he undoubtably feels for the mother and out of a sense of loyalty to her, he sought of downplay what she had done by way of physical chastisement in striking A’s head. I simply did not believe the mother’s evidence.193.I also find on one occasion in Gabon that the mother did strike A across the face with a shoe. A reported this to K and it appears in her statement at C157. 194.I approach this allegation with great care because I am conscious of the fact that I have not heard directly from A on this issue, whereas I have heard from the mother. It is right that K was unchallenged on this issue during the hearing. The fact that A is reported to have said that she used an implement on only one occasion is significant, in my judgment, in assessing the credibility of that report. I note the mother’s denial and that F said that he had never seen her use a shoe.195.I was particularly troubled by the mother’s evidence on the issue of her allegations of sexual abuse now levelled by her against F, the foster carer, and various staff at after-school clubs. Having performed a holistic assessment of the evidence, in my judgment, she was quite literally making it up as she went along.196.One example is in dealing with her allegations of sexual abuse against the foster carer. On the first day of her evidence she described that the foster carer would tie A’s hands together and put something to cover his eyes. This was the first time I had heard of that particular allegation. The following day, the allegation had grown to tying A’s hands and feet together as well as covering his eyes.197.Her allegations grew through the hearing to include saying that the social worker told her that staff at the after-school club were sexually abusing A. I find this allegation to be wholly and inherently implausible.198.From the witness box, the mother also alleged that the foster carer hits A. The mother also alleged that during face-to-face contact and video contract with A, he had made various allegations of sexual and physical abuse and that the contact workers who are present at contact, with the benefit of an interpreter, are lying in the notes about contact. 199.The mother also said on the second day of her evidence that she physically witnessed the foster carer hit A during a video call. Again, I find this inherently unlikely. The foster carer has been described in glowing terms by safeguarding professionals in this case and is clearly highly skilled and experienced. 200.Having performed a holistic assessment of all the evidence before me, I am satisfied that the truth is almost a stranger to this mother. Her willingness to invent false allegations and to spray them around almost indiscriminately in a bid to improve her case was quite disturbing.201.In respect to the allegations that she made against F of sexually abusing A, which she repeated from the witness box, I cannot be satisfied on a balance probabilities that F has sexually abused A. The mother was fortunate to have been represented by Miss Edmunds, who is a very experienced and highly able senior junior barrister. She did not take up the invitation to put this allegation to F in cross-examination. 202.I have considered the other material in the papers, including the police interviews of the mother, F and ABE interviews of A where he made no allegations against F, together with the statement of P. Having performed a holistic assessment of all the evidence, I can well understand why the police have not taken this matter any further. I can understand why the Local Authority have not pursued findings against F. 203.I can understand why the mother’s counsel chose not to put the allegation to F. I can understand why F’s barrister decided that the allegation was so incredible and having F’s evidence of denial of any such allegation, that that was the submission for the Court to find that the allegation was not proved. 204.The Court was placed in a very difficult position in dealing with the allegation made by the mother from the witness box. As I have said before in this judgment, she deliberately chose not to file and serve her written statement of evidence contrary to several Court directions. That meant that her evidence was heard for the first time from the witness box.205.The Local Authority, in advance of the hearing, had reached a view that it was neither necessary nor proportionate to try the issue of the alleged sexual abuse by F on A. The Court was deprived of a proper opportunity to make an Oxfordshire type ruling in advance of the hearing. However, the mother repeated the allegation from the witness box. 206.The Court cannot pretend that that allegation was not made. Yet, the Court is able to understand the anxiety of the advocates in dealing with that issue when the expectation was that they would not be dealing with it. Nevertheless, the mother repeated the allegation, and the father denied it.207.On the available evidence, I am unable to find on a balance of probability that the mother’s allegation against the father is proven. Therefore, I find that F did not sexually abuse A. 208.A demonstrates nothing other than a desire to see and be with F and his reticent only about spending time with his mother. It is significant, in my judgment, that having made these allegations, not only did the mother continue to live with F up until the first day of the final hearing, they presented as a couple and wish would be assessed as joint carers for A. Indeed, the mother accepted that she was trying to conceive another child with F until after March 2022. 209.The evidence provided by P is riddled within consistency. Two lengthy and careful ABE interviews revealed nothing to support a finding that F perpetrated sexual abuse on A.210.The mother’s behaviour at the contact session on 12 November 2021 was deeply concerning. Her willingness to expose A to an abusive anal examination, on what I find to be a completely false basis that he was being sexually abused by his foster care, will have caused him significant emotional harm. She simply cannot see the harm that she is doing to her child. 211.Her reprehensible behaviour is compounded by her obstinate refusal to sign an undertaking or contract of expectations not to expose him to such anal examination again. She could not even be consistent in describing what caused her to perform the examination. The first visual description that she gave was of A performing a straddling walk. 212.The next demonstration that she gave from the witness box later in her evidence was of A walking with a pronounced limp. The two demonstrations were significantly different. I did not believe a word that she said. She was lying. 213.She lied when she made allegations of sexual abuse against F, the foster carer and members of staff of various after-school clubs saying that that is what she had been told by the social worker. She lied when she denied physically striking A, particularly to the head. This is a mother who simply cannot be trusted to be truthful.214.This is a mother who demonstrates no real insight into the emotional harm that she is causing her son by her behaviour. This was one of those cases where it was really important to be present to see and hear this mother give evidence to gain the full picture. 215.In the absence of any medical evidence around her health, I am unable to find that she has an undiagnosed and untreated mental health difficulty which causes her to behave erratically and in a manner which mirrors a psychotic state. I do, however, find that she behaved erratically and to her presentation and behaviour of the three videos that I saw would, in my judgment, be very distressing to A. It is simply not good enough to say A has seen it before and, therefore, it will not affect him. 216.First of all, the mother was not in a situation where one would expect a prayer, particularly such an animated prayer. She was about to see her son for contact. He had arrived. I am satisfied that he was distressed by her behaviour and that he did run to the foster carer. 217.The mother said that it was the foster career who picked him up. She could not know this. She was lying on the floor with our eyes closed making strange noises.218.During questions from me, the mother told me that even though the Holy Ghost got hold of her, she was still able to control when she prayed and how she prayed. In those circumstances, in my judgment, the mother chose what to do, what she did and demonstrated no insight into the emotional harm that it would cause her son to see it. Her bizarre behaviour was also witnessed in the Warrington police station on 18 October 2021, when she was taken by paramedics to hospital for a mental health assessment. 219.The threshold, pleaded at paragraphs 6, 8 and 9, are proved against the mother. Seven is proved, save that I am unable to find that she has an undiagnosed and untreated mental health difficulty. There is no issue over the allegations of neglect and poor home conditions as far as the mother is concerned.220.I am also satisfied that F and C failed to give sufficient consideration to A’s emotional need to bring him to the United Kingdom and to the property and the condition that it was. I found the evidence of A scribbling black crayon over the house during direct work to be illuminating on this issue. I also accept the submission of the Local Authority that the conditions of the house, well-shown by the photographs in which A was living for over three months confined almost exclusively to the home, were likely to and did cause emotional harm.221.In the circumstances, I am satisfied that at the time the proceedings were commenced the child was suffering and was likely to suffer significant emotion and physical harm, and the likelihood of harm was attributable to the care that had been given and was likely to be given to him, not being what it would be reasonable to expect a parent to give to him. Therefore, the gateway is open to the making of a care order.