GU24P07400 - [2025] EWHC 1587 (Fam)

The Respondent father denies the allegations of domestic abuse and states he was supportive of his wife during and after pregnancies. He feared the Applicant would remove the children from his care without consulting him in late 2023 and so sought the equivalent of a prohibited steps order, without notice to her, which he obtained. He exhibits messages in which she states what a great husband and father he is. He denies the March 2022 allegations about X and the October 2023 allegation about him attending a virtual board meeting.

His evidence is that when he returned to the family home in November 2023, it was empty and the Applicant had removed the children without consulting him. On 26 November 2023 they met to discuss the children and he made clear that they should live with him but she was free to make her own arrangements. He sought an order from the Nigerian courts to prevent the Applicant removing the children from his care. His evidence is that she had gone with the children to an unknown location and he did not know where they were. Therefore, he involved the police to find his children. His evidence is that the police of their own motion in furtherance of finding the children froze her bank accounts and issued a warrant for her arrest. His ex parte order was set aside in January 2024 and the court ordered that the children live with the Applicant. The court ordered the Applicant to provide the address where she and the children were living. She provided the address in Abuja, which was an apartment near their school in February 2024. His evidence was that he tried to see the children but the Applicant would only let him see them in her own home. He feared she would make further false allegations against him and so did not agree to her supervising contact between him and then children in her home. He accepts he saw X at school in May 2024.

The Respondent was unaware the children had been removed from Nigeria and he was asking for contact with them in October and November 2024.

His evidence is that the children were settled in Nigeria. They lived in a five-bedroom property. They attended the same school from nursery to primary. The twins were in their first year of primary and X was in his third year. They had many friends. “Their entire family support system remains in Nigeria”. Their paternal grandparents and maternal adopted grandparents are in Nigeria. Their aunt, uncles and cousins are there. They had rarely left Nigeria except for a few holidays. He states the children are not habitually resident in England and Wales.

He provides an opinion from a Nigerian Professor of law and practising barrister, who sets out the protective measures to be implemented for the children’s return. He sets out the protection afforded through the Nigerian Child Rights Act which broadly mirrors the orders available in English courts for children’s welfare. He sets out the Nigerian Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act 2015 which provides for orders against harassment and intimidation.

I permitted limited cross-examination of the Respondent. He told me the children’s school informed him they can return and the fees issue can be resolved. He explained the children had health insurance in Nigeria. He denied the children had previously regularly come to the UK. He accepted he had a cousin in the UK and a daughter at university in England. He said the Nigerian police froze the Applicant’s accounts to seek to locate the children after they were removed from his care. He clarified that he only found out the children had left Nigeria and were in the UK in November 2024.