Father falsely accused of violence against mother during custody battle

Child custody battles can cause strong and heated emotions between a child's parents in New Jersey or anywhere. A recent story by Christopher Goffard published by the Los Angeles Times, chronicled one father's experience whose child custody battle became a living nightmare when he was falsely accused of assaulting his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his five-year-old son.

The father and mother of the boy had been fighting since shortly after the birth of the boy for custody. The mother had accused the father previously of domestic violence, charges he denied. She had moved to another state and continued fighting the father, attempting to cut off his contact with his son.

The mother currently had primary custody when the charges were filed against the father. The father had two weekends a month with his son and on one occasion he traveled to California from Las Vegas to pick him up and bring him back to his home for the weekend. The boy usually traveled to Las Vegas alone, but the father wanted to see the boy's new kindergarten.

The boy's mother volunteered regularly at the boy's kindergarten and a family judge later said that she seem like a good mother to the boy but, as inferred from the article, the mother was apparently desperate to get the father out of her son's life. The mother called police while the boy's father was waiting to pick up the boy and told them that he had attacked her. The father spent three months in jail and went on trial for serious charges, including sexual assault, kidnapping, torture and attempted murder.

The father was eventually declared officially innocent. He has since gained primary custody of his son because a family law judge felt that the mother would not stop trying to get the father out of her son's life if she continued to have primary custody. The mother still sees her son every weekend and has moved back to Las Vegas to be nearer to him. She has not been charged with filing a false police report.

Source: Los Angeles Times, "In this assault case, the puzzle pieces don't fit," Christopher Goffard, 27 June 2011