OFF THE WIRE
A senior bikie whose family are in witness protection has been denied any physical contact with his two children after a WA Family Court judge recognised the overriding need to protect the secret location of his former wife and her genuine fear for her safety.
Under an order imposed by Justice Jane Crisford, the outlaw motorcycle gxxg member will only be allowed to send cards to his six-year-old son and four-year-old daughter on special occasions and is permitted to write letters to the children twice a year. Justice Crisford recognised the man was a loving father and that terminating his relationship with his children was an option of last resort.
She also acknowledged an expert report which was in favour of maintaining a relationship between the father and children.
But Justice Crisford rejected the man's bid for supervised and weekend access to the children, saying the mother and children had been given new identities and relocated by the State Witness Protection Program. "The court itself considers the father to present a risk to the children that outweighs the benefits of them seeing him in the manner suggested by the expert," Justice Crisford said in a judgment published yesterday.
"The counter veiling consideration to the once good relationship is what I consider to be the physical risk to the mother and possibly the children if their whereabouts are known."
The couple, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, separated in September 2010 and the father has had no contact with the children in the 18 months since.
The mother and children were accepted into the witness protection program soon after the separation and a police report in October 2010 identified the father as posing a "very high" and "certain" threat to the mother.
The judgment reveals the lifestyle shared by the couple was punctuated by domestic violence and included illicit drug use, the presence of firearms in the family home and the exposure of the children to offensive and demeaning language. Justice Crisford noted that the mother had also engaged in drug taking and admitted posting photos of the children posing with balaclavas and holding a hand gun on Facebook.
But Justice Crisford accepted that the woman had changed her life significantly and had always been the primary caregiver for the children.Under the order imposed by the court, the mother has been given sole parental responsibility for the children.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/breaking/13007898/bikie-barred-from-his-children/
