Grave Risk – Art. 13(1)(b)
The father argued that when his daughter was aged 7 she had been the victim of rape at the family residence by her mother’s live-in partner. He stated that he had filed a complaint in that regard in September 2004 in France.
The Court found that the evidence produced by the Public Prosecutor revealed that the Dutch police services attempted in vain to make a surprise visit to the mother’s residence and never questioned the alleged perpetrator of the rape. According to the civil status and police files there was no link between the mother and this man, nor the commission of an offence.
The Court noted however that the mother had admitted to engaging in a relationship with the man and that no preventive measures had been taken when the child had made serious accusations and expressed great reservations about returning to live with her mother.
The mother denied the children’s statements. The Court concluded that there was a grave risk of harm and upheld the judgment at first instance (except for the allocation of responsibility for costs of the proceedings to the Central Authority).
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