Exclusive by Janet Fife Yeomans
March 29, 2007 12:00
Article from: The Daily Telegraph
A MOTHER of two is behind bars for defying court orders in a tug of love
fight with her ex partner.In what family law experts said was a rare case, the woman, 31, was given a
heartbreaking choice by the Federal Magistrates' Court let the father to
see his children or go to jail.
Magistrate Michael Jarrett adjourned the case for 15 minutes but when he
returned to the bench, the woman, already on a good behaviour bond for
refusing access to her ex partner, remained unrepentant.
Mr Jarrett, sitting at Lismore in northern NSW, took the rare step of
jailing her for four months.
She was last night in Grafton Jail and her children, a girl aged six and a
boy aged eight, were with their father, 41, who was granted full custody.
Her new husband yesterday told The Daily Telegraph yesterday his wife was
distraught.
"She has been crying," he said.
The families cannot be identified.
The father's solicitor, Steven Tester, said the magistrate had no choice
after the mother refused a lifeline.
"No one wanted to see the mother go to jail. The point of these kinds of
cases is that there are laws in place and they apply to everyone, Compliance
is not optional," Mr Tester said.
"The Family Court heard evidence and allowed the father to have unsupervised
access to his children.
"Despite the mother being warned about the likely result of her not
complying with the order, she took matters into her own hands.
"The result is regrettable but ultimately it was the mother's choice."
Family law expert Michael Taussig QC said it was an extreme case.
"They are highly emotional cases and it has to be a blatant and flagrant
breach of court orders before a magistrate will consider jail," Mr Taussig
said.
It was the culmination of six years and 22 Family Court and Federal
Magistrates' Court hearings since the couple split when the woman was a few
weeks pregnant with their second child.
Her claim that her children would be in danger from their father, who has a
number of criminal convictions, was rejected by the Family Court.
In December she was placed on a good behaviour bond by the Federal
Magistrates' Court after she refused to allow supervised visits by the
father and hid with the children for six months.
Her new husband said she intended to appeal and was preparing the case
herself after being refused Legal Aid.
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21463034 5007132,00.html