Judge gives woman one day to agree shared custody of children

A mother described by a judge as “devious, self-serving and duplicitous” risks having her two children taken from her on Wednesday unless she agrees shared custody with the children’s father.

This follows a warning on Tuesday issued to the woman at a family law court in the west of the country.

The judge told the woman “I will give you until tomorrow to deal with the shared custody issue and if the issue is not addressed appropriately, I will consider making an order granting sole custody to the father.”

The judge’s warning follows the mother’s refusal to abide by a court order issued on July 8th awarding joint custody of the two children to the parents who are both foreign nationals.

In the case, the woman alleges that her former partner has sexually abused their five-year-old girl and, as a result, the father of the two children has not seen them since February of this year.

The man vehemently denies the sex abuse allegation. In awarding joint custody earlier this month at the family law court, the judge said that he believes that the mother “has concocted a version of events, irrespective of the effect of that approach on others, particularly her children, to serve her own purposes”.

He said that the authorities have to date found no evidential basis to the mother’s sex abuse allegation. “I stress to date because certain investigations are ongoing.”

The mother has enjoyed sole custody while living in Ireland but the judge said that the mother "has to a considerable extent attempted to alienate the affection of the children for their father".

The matter was re-entered into court after the mother’s refusal to abide by the court order and the judge gave the parties until yesterday to agree access arrangements that would facilitate joint custody.

However, the solicitor for the father told the judge yesterday that the mother is still insisting on supervised access only.

The solicitor for the woman said: “That is the position judge, supervised access is all that we are offering.”

In response, the judge interjected to say: “The sooner that your client understands that she does not propose the better. I order and I order that the court order be complied with.

“Your client doesn’t dictate to this court what this court does. I have already made an order – it is now up to your client to facilitate the implementation of that order.”

The judge asked the solicitor to warn his client “in relation to what this court has in mind to do. I don’t want your client dictating her views how that order should be implemented.”

The judge also said that both parties with their solicitors should meet ahead of Wednesday’s court hearing on the issue.

Earlier this month awarding joint custody, the judge said that he wasn’t impressed by the mother, describing her as “devious, self-serving and duplicitous” but was impressed by the father “who was truthful, intelligent and showed a deep concern for his children”.