A man who had insisted his partner gets an abortion has been stripped of his parental rights by a Family Court judge who ordered him to live up to his responsibilities and pay monthly alimony.
Madam Justice Jacqueline Padovani Grima was ruling in a case filed by the child’s mother who won full and sole custody of her daughter.
The court heard how the two were dating when the woman got pregnant. Her partner at first insisted she should have an abortion, but the woman refused to accede, insisting with her partner that she wanted the child and was not going to terminate her pregnancy.
The man seemingly accepted her decision and attended maternity appointments until the fifth month of pregnancy when he suddenly stopped attending and did not go to hospital for the birth.
However, he seemed to have had a change of heart right after the birth, when he visited his partner in hospital and said he wanted to be registered as the child’s father. But his decision was short-lived. The relationship ended and so did the contact with both the mother and child.
The father abandoned the mother and daughter from birth
Years down the line, the mother filed an application before the family court to obtain full custody of the child so that she would not have to consult or obtain permission from the father on decisions which needed to be taken on the girl’s health, education and even to go abroad.
In handing down her judgment, Madam Justice Padovani Grima noted that in determining childcare and custody, the court is usually guided by the child’s best interest. The Civil Code gave the court the power to declare that the other party is not fit to have the custody of the minor children in serious cases.
“Under normal circumstances, both parents play an important role in the life and in the upbringing of their children, and therefore neither parent should be excluded from the upbringing of children unless there are serious grounds for the court to take action. In such matters, the court is guided by the best interests of the child,” the judge noted.
Having seen that the father abandoned the mother and daughter from birth and that he could not even be traced for the purpose of the proceedings, the judge ruled there were the extremes for the court to strip the man of his parental authority, entrusting full care and custody to the mother.
The court was handed a list of expenses incurred for the child’s daily needs as well as her educational, medical and extracurricular requirements and ordered the man to pay €450 in monthly alimony as well as all the court expenses related to the case.