FD24P00235 - [2025] EWHC 952 (Fam)

The mother contends that the father continued to be domestically abusive and coercive and controlling of her when the parties moved to the United States in 2012, which continued until 2017. The mother further alleges that during this period the father sexually abused both her and the children.

Consistent with the overall tenor of this case, the mother asserts she travelled to the United States from Bolivia, telling the Children’s Guardian she was forced to carry drugs for the father that were then stolen at Miami International Airport by a rival gang. Again, there is no evidence to corroborate that serious allegation of criminal behaviour. As I have noted, the mother alleges that in order to make this move, the father obtained a Bolivian passport for her of which she was not aware.

The father contends that the mother travelled to the US via England, as she wished to visit her mother and sister ahead of P’s birth, with whom the mother was then pregnant. He relies on photographs of the mother, pregnant, that he says depict the mother pregnant with P in London in 2012. The paternal grandmother corroborated the account of the mother going to the US via England in 2012 when pregnant with P. The father disputes he obtained a Bolivian passport for the mother, asserting that it would not be possible for him to obtain a Bolivian passport for the mother without her participation in that process. There is no evidence that the mother had difficulties entering the United States on a spousal visa as the wife of the father.

I accept the evidence of the father and am satisfied that the mother travelled to the US via England, as she wished to visit her mother and sister ahead of P’s birth. I am further satisfied that the mother has fabricated her account of being forced to carry drugs for the father that were then stolen at Miami International Airport by a rival gang

One of the few facts which is not disputed is that the parties lived in Florida between 2012 and 2017 and that that this is where P and Q were born in 2012 and 2014 respectively. The mother seeks the following findings with respect to the period in Miami between 2012 and 2017:

The mother gives no specific dates for the incidents she alleges and the court has no other evidence to corroborate the allegations of domestic abuse beyond the two specific incidents to which I will come. During her oral evidence, the mother also alleged for the first time that Q was conceived as the result of her being raped by the father in 2014. The mother had not previously made that allegation and did not do so when she mentioned the birth of her son Q to the Deputy DA on 10 August 2020. The mother appeared to have no conception whatsoever of the gravity of the impact on Q of making such an allegation if it were untrue.

The father denies that he was domestically abusive to the mother. With respect to the mother’s allegation that she was not able to leave the family home save when the father was absent and had no opportunity to work, the father exhibits to his evidence a photograph of the mother wearing a ‘Macy’s’ uniform and screenshots of a 2013 tax return evidencing that the mother worked at Macy’s, which includes details of the mother’s wages. The mother now asserts that she undertook a voluntary job at Macy’s whilst living in Florida and that she was never employed by Macy’s, notwithstanding that she stated in the police interview in Colorado following the 24 June 2020 incident that she had been employed as a sales associate at Macy’s.

I am not satisfied that the mother has proved the allegations pleaded with respect to the family’s period in Florida between 2012 and 2017 on the balance of probabilities. Once again, I have taken account of the fact that it is often the case that incidents of domestic abuse and coercive and controlling behaviour lack corroborating evidence by reason of the nature of that conduct. However, and once again, the mother’s allegations fall to be evaluated in the context of the court’s view of the mother’s credibility in the context of the other evidence available.

There is no evidence beyond the mother’s assertion that the father denied her access to antenatal care when pregnant with the children. Likewise, there is no evidence to support her allegation that the father assaulted her whilst she pregnant with P. The Regional Medical Centre at which the mother states she was treated has no record for her. Whilst the mother’s name is spelt incorrectly on the correspondence, the mother has taken no steps in these proceedings to deal with that issue. Further, the Miami Dade police Domestic Violence Supplemental Report completed on 26 April 2017 contradicts the mother’s account of a long history of domestic abuse from 2012 to 2017. In that report, in answer to the question “Is there a history of domestic violence” the report records, the answer given is “No”. The mother’s assertion that she was only able to leave the family home when the father was not present and had no identity card of her own is directly contradicted by the evidence that she has a driving licence and social security number and the photograph of the mother wearing ‘Macy’s’ uniform and a 2013 tax return evidencing her wages. As I have noted, the mother stated in terms following the 24 June 2020 incident that she had been employed as a sales associate at Macy’s.

In these circumstances, I decline to make the findings sought by the mother with respect to the period between 2012 and 2017 in Miami.