PEMBERTON & ELDRED

In the matter of Pemberton & Eldred, heard by Judge Willis AM, the dispute concerned the time, if any, the father should spend with the child. The father had a significant and long-standing history of crime and violence, including periods of imprisonment spanning 18 years. The central question before the court was whether any contact between the father and the child was in the child's best interests, given the father's history and its implications for the child's safety.

The court was required to determine whether spending time with the father would be contrary to the child's best interests. This involved assessing the risks posed by the father's uncontained and unpredictable anger, his history of family violence, and the difficulties in finding a supervisor capable of managing him. The court also considered the findings of a single expert psychiatrist who had referred to the father's extensive criminal history and his challenges in being restrained by authorities.

The court reasoned that the father's long criminal history, coupled with his uncontained and unpredictable anger, placed both the mother and the child at significant risk. The lack of any supervisor able to contain the father, combined with his history of family violence, led the court to conclude that no contact was in the child's best interests. Consequently, the court ordered that the father was to spend no time of any kind with the child. Further orders were made to restrain the father from removing the child from the mother's care and to issue a recovery order should such removal occur. The mother was also permitted to obtain a passport for the child and to travel overseas with the child at her discretion.