EJK and VJK (Children)

MR D STUART (counsel) appeared on behalf of the Respondent children, by the children's guardian

This case originally concerned the question of how much time a father should spend with his four children who are now aged 17, 14, 12 and eight. It now concerns only the youngest two of those four children. The questions for me now are whether the father has sexually abused two of his children or whether the mother has manipulated the children to make up false allegations. I have also to decide what should or can be done following my findings.

This judgment is a fact-finding decision as part of private law family proceedings for child arrangement orders under section 8 of the Children Act 1989. The four children are: TJK, a girl born on 17 April 1998 who is now aged 17; MJK, a boy born on 13 May 2001 who is now aged 14; EJK a boy born on 4 October 2002 who is now aged 12; and VJK, a boy born on 14 November 2006 who is now aged eight.

This fact-finding hearing took place over three days, on 21, 22 and 23 July 2015 with judgment on a fourth day, today, 28 August 2015. Unfortunately, severe overloading of the list on the three days originally allocated meant that I lost valuable time during the hearing and was unable to complete the case in July 2015. Further listed hearings prevented me from considering and delivering this judgment until today. In the fact-finding hearing before me the mother, father, and two younger children by the children's guardian, were all legally represented.

I have to make findings about five allegations set out in a schedule dated 9 July 2015. The allegations are formulated as five questions, four by the mother and one by the father. The questions (as set out in the schedule of allegations) are these: