C v R

This judgment was handed down remotely at 10.00am on 3 August 2022 by circulation to the parties or their representatives by e-mail and by release to the National Archives.

      I am concerned in this matter with an application made in respect of H, a female child born in 2018 and now aged 4 years. The applicant (C) is the father of H and he is represented by Ms Best of counsel. The respondent (R) is the mother of H. She is represented by Ms Renton of counsel. The father and H are citizens of Hong Kong. The mother is a British citizen who was born in Hong Kong. She is of Pakistani origin. Her parents, who also resided in Hong Kong, now live in the United Kingdom.

      In determining this application, I have had the benefit of hearing the oral evidence of Dr Ratnam, a consultant psychiatrist, and of reading and hearing the extensive submissions of Ms Best and Ms Renton.

      The father and mother met in April 2017 and married on 18 January 2018. H was born in the summer of 2018. The parties and the child lived with the maternal grandparents in Hong Kong until September 2018 when the father left that property (the circumstances of his departure are disputed). In September 2019, the father purchased a property in Hong Kong; the parties were at that time still in a relationship and it was intended the mother and H would live with the father at the property.

      In November 2019, the father suspected the mother of having an affair and his contact with H stopped. The father filed a divorce petition in Hong Kong in 2020 and sought joint custody of H. Those proceedings have not concluded and, at the date of the final hearing in July 2022, the parties remain married.